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CHILD MARIAN ABROAD 


BY 

WM. M. F. ROUND, 

n 

AUTHOR OF “ ACHSAH ” AND “TORN AND MENDED.” 


ILLUSTRATED . 


BOSTON : 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 



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Copyright, 1877, by 
LEE AND SHEPARD 

Copyright, 1905, by 
WILLIAM M. F. ROUND 
All Rights Reserved 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD 


« 

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TO 

GEORGE MACDONALD’S children 
&{)is $0oh is Jlibicaitb 

BY ONE WHO LOVES AND HONORS 

THEIR FATHER. 


Rosxoxott, 

Still River, Mass., 

Auguit, 1877. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

Marian starts 9 

CHAPTER n. 

A Day in London 25 

CHAPTER III. 

Sight-seeing in London , 37 

CHAPTER IV. 

An Uncrowned Empress 52 

CHAPTER V. 

Marian visits the Pope 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

Still in Rome. Marian fights under Garibaldi . . 78 

CHAPTER VH. 

The Dear Child writes a Letter 91 

CHAPTER Vni. 

The City of the Sea 101 

CHAPTER IX. 

Marian goes below 114 

CHAPTER X. 

Looking on in Vienna 128 

CHAPTER XI. 

Marian plays with a Princess 139 

CHAPTER XH. 

Homeward bound 147 



CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


CHAPTER I. 


MARIAN STARTS. 


ARIAN is my niece, and the nicest little 



-Lt_L seven-year-old niece in the world ; at least 
we think so, and we ought to know, for we ’ve been 
acquainted with Marian ever since she was a baby, 
and loved her better and better every year. How 
can we help loving her? We can’t; for she is as 
merry as a cricket, as lively as a sparrow, as pretty as 
a butterfly, and as good as — oh, ever so much better 
than gold ! 

Perhaps you ’d like to know how Marian looks and 
behaves. Well, her hair is golden as sunshine, 
her eyes as blue as violets, and she chatters — chat- 
ters — chatters. She does n’t wait for one question 
to be answered before she asks another, and when 
she is n’t talking she is singing. 


10 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Marian was the tiniest bit of a pink-nosed baby 
when she came to live with us. Her mamma died 
soon after our pet was born ; and before Marian had 
learned to speak his name, we went out one glorious 
June morning and laid her papa in a grave among 
the hillside daisies, and then came back and kissed 
Marian again and again, — kissed her for his dear 
sake, and because she was now all ours, and we loved 
her dearly. 

One time, when the clock of the year was striking 
December, I had a message that called me over the 
sea. "I’ll go with you,” said Marian’s aunt, who is 
my wife; and "I’ll go too,” said Marian’s aunt’s 
niece, who is Marian. 

Well, you know December is a cloudy, stormy, 
dull time at sea, and by way of having the sunshine 
always with us, we concluded we ’d take Marian 
along. So one morning I walked into the office of 
the Inman line and bought two tickets and a half for 
Liverpool, by the good ship "City of Brussels.” 
Then I walked home and said to Marian and her 
aunt, — 

"Now, pack your trunks, for next Saturday we 
sail.” 

" May I take them all ? ” 


MARIAN STARTS. 


11 


"All what, my dear?” 

"All my dolls.” 

" Goodness ! ” I exclaimed, remembering there 
were twenty-four of them, exclusive of paper ones. 
And I knew that each doll had a wardrobe of its 
own. 

" Marian,” I said, "you may have a trunk of your 
own, and you may put in the tray whatever you like, 
keeping the lower part for your clothes.” 

The trunk having been arranged, and a very good- 
sized trunk it was, Marian found that there would 
only be room for six dolls, and she forthwith 
arranged her six last and best ones in the tray. 
Very sweet they looked, too, I can assure you, in 
their six tiny nightcaps, and their little snub noses 
and little kid " toes-es ” turned up to a picture of 
Trinity Church on the trunk-lid. They were mostly 
crying dolls, and when I shut the trunk down, and 
pressed their dear little bodies, they gave a pathetic 
squeak that fairly brought tears to Marian’s eyes. 

Then Marian had to dispose of her other dolls. 
She gave them to the care of her little playmates, 
with many charges as to how they should be tended 
while she was away. 

"Now,” she said, — "now, Mary Jones, here is 


12 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Ethelberta, who is delicate, and can’t keep her arms 
on very well ; you ’ll have to be very careful of her. 
And here is my darling little blonde Alice, who has 
a hole in the back of her neck, over which you ’ll 
have to put a piece of court-plaster from time to 
time, otherwise she ’ll break out badly with the saw- 
dust, which, as everybody knows, is worse than the 
measles. 

" And here, Tommy Bruce, you ’re a boy, and you 
shall have my acrobatic doll. It will be a great com- 
fort to Pedro if you ’ll let him stand on his head a 
few minutes every day.” And so, one by one, the 
dolls were disposed of, until at last Topsy, a black 
doll of very large size and very kinky hair, was all 
that remained. Tears came in Marian’s eyes when 
she gave Topsy to the washerwoman’s daughter, say- 
ing, " She ’s a great care ; her legs and her arms 
and her head are always flying off, but Aunt Elinor 
says you may have the Spaulding’s glue -pot along 
with her, and maybe, if you watch her close, and 
mend her every morning, you can keep her in 
order.” 

" It was very hard parting with Topsy,” she said 
afterwards. " She is n’t pretty, and she ’s a great 
deal of trouble ; but she ’s so funny and so good ! ” 


MARIAN STARTS . 


13 


At last we were fairly started, — Aunt Elinor, 
Marian, the trunks, and, by no means least, Mar- 
ian’s canary, in a little wire cage with a handle on 
the top. These things made the sum of my cares, 
and, to a large extent, my joys as well. 

The ship was advertised to sail at eight, and we 
were on board by half past seven, when we were 
told that, owing to some unforeseen circumstance, 
we should not leave till three in the afternoon. This 
gave us time to go all over the vessel, and to arrange 
our state-rooms, and to become acquainted with the 
stewards, and still have some hours on our hands. 

And during that time Marian made an acquaint- 
ance. About twelve there came on board a Japan- 
ese family, who were going to England. They 
weren’t any of your tea-store Japanese, but the 
real coffee-and-eream colored Japanese, with silk 
dresses and paper-soled shoes, and with their shining 
black hair gummed up fantastically, and with little 
sparkling eyes, and every one of them born and bred 
in Japan. 

There was Mr. Yang-Hi and Mrs. Yang-Hi, and, 
above all and before all, there was Yang-Hi, Jr., 
aged eight, and whose name was Yastarra Yang-Hi, 
a young gentleman whose head was shaved in spots, 


14 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


till it looked like a geographical globe, with the bare 
parts representing water and the patches of hair rep- 
resenting land. Marian eyed the party for a time, 
and then began to make the acquaintance of Master 
Yastarra. She drew from her pocket a piece of 
candy, and held it out temptingly. 

Yastarra looked wistfully. 

" Take it,” said Marian. 

" Yak , mak-erra tarra boo” said Yastarra ; or at 
least so Marian said he said. 

" Parlez-vous Frangais ? ” (Do you speak French ?) 
asked Marian, who spoke French as well as English, 
having learned it from a French nurse. 

" Lakara uk-ki yam” said Yastarra. 

" Can’t you talk any better than that ? ” asked 
Marian. 

" Mak-ak . Yung-yam” answered Yastarra. 

" It is n’t talking at all,” said Marian ; " it sounds 
like hens. You ’d better take the candy, though, if 
you can’t talk.” 

So Yastarra took the candy, and diving his hands 
into the folds of his silk coat, found a pocket some- 
where, and produced a curious little box in which 
were some Japanese sweetmeats, which he offered to 
Marian. 


MARIAN STARTS. 


15 


"Very pretty,” said Marian. 

" Good ! ” said Yastarra. This was almost the only 
English word he knew. Marian bowed, saying, " Oh, 
yes, I’ve no doubt they’re good.” 

Then Yastarra began making motions for Marian 
to eat some. Marian took one, touched her tongue 
to it, found it sweet, and the two having exchanged 
candies, became straightway good friends. 

" Come to our state-room, and 1 ’ll show you my 
dolls,” said Marian, at the same time taking Master 
Yastarra by the hand. 

Marian had the key to her trunk tied to a blue 
ribbon which she wore about her neck ; so when they 
reached the state-room she unlocked her trunk, and 
the row of six little folks, feeling the pressure of the 
lid off their six little stomachs, gave a squeak of 
childish delight. Out they came, one by one, and 
out came sundry other toys that had been smuggled 
into the corners ; and when we went to look for 
Marian, we found the two little folks making a toy- 
shop of the state-room, and as happy and as well 
acquainted as if they had known each other for weeks 
instead of minutes. To be sure, they couldn’t talk 
the same language, but they managed to make each 
other understand very well by signs. 


16 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


" Marian,” I said, " are you having a good time ? ” 

" Splendid ! Only if I could make him talk any. 
thing but hen-talk, I could understand him better.” 

"Should you mind, Marian, if we went off the 
ship for an hour or two, your aunt and I, and left 
you here?” 

" Not a bit,” answered Marian, " if you ’ll be sure 
to get back in time.” 

" And won’t you go out of the cabin ? ” said Aunt 
Elinor. 

" Or touch my dressing-case ? ” said I. 

"Or play with the water in the pitcher?” said 
Aunt Elinor. 

"No, no, no ! ” said Marian. " I ’ll only play with 
little chicky-hen, and run out in the saloon.” 

So it was all arranged, and Aunt Elinor and I, to 
whom it had occurred that we should spend Christ- 
mas on shipboard, took a cab and went up into 
Broadway to buy some Christmas gifts, not forget- 
ting to ask the stewardess to have an eye to Marian 
and her friend. 

Of course we were back in time, and the children 
had done no mischief beyond upsetting the tooth- 
powder, and had arranged the toys in a manner 
" perfectly elegant,” if we may take Miss Marian’s 


MARIAN STARTS. 


17 


word for it. On the back of the wash-basin, with 
their dainty feet dangling in the bowl, were Arabella 
and Clara, two of Marian’s most cherished dolls, 
and in the little window-seat by the port-hole was a 
row of four more, with their feet dangling, and look- 
ing as beaming and lovable as if they never meant 
to be sea-sick in their lives. Marian had just fin- 
ished arranging her toys when we returned and took 
her on deck, that she might bid her good-by to 
New York. 

Captain Leitch was on the bridge, looking very 
brave and dignified, and he was speaking down into 
tubes, and pulling bells, and giving orders in every 
direction. People were standing about the gang- 
way, bidding friends good-by, and some of them 
crying, and some of them laughing, and all of them 
talking, when of a sudden there was a throb that 
one could feel all over the vessel, and which was 
like the beating of a gigantic heart. Wheels began 
to turn way down below, the water began to splash 
in a path of white foam behind the ship, and slowly, 
very slowly at first, but going faster and faster, she 
began to plough a pathway for herself through the 
dancing waves, and out of the harbor into the ocean. 

It began to grow dark, and we all sat down to 
2 


18 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


dinner, and after dinner the great ship began to 
move about in a singular way, and Marian came and 
whispered to me, saying, "Uncle Will, I feel queer ! ’’ 

My ! she looked queer. She was as pale as a 
sheet. And I looked into her deep blue eyes as 
tenderly as I could, and I put my arms about her, 
and I whispered in her pink little ear and said, 
" Marian, I feel queer, too.” 

"Let us go and find Aunt Elinor,” said Marian; 
and I said, "Let’s.” So we went and found Aunt 
Elinor, who was lying on a sofa, looking paler than 
either of us, and who said when she saw us, " Oh, 
I ’m so glad you ’ve come, for I feel very queer, and 
think I ought to be got to bed.” 

With a good deal of help Aunt Elinor and Marian 
were got to bed, and I — oh dear ! I got to bed, too ; 
and while I lay there, feeling as if I ’d been swing- 
ing too long, or smoking my very first cigar, I heard 
Marian, who with her aunt occupied the adjoining 
state-room, saying her prayers. After "Now I lay 
me,” she said, "God bless Uncle Will, God bless 
Aunt Elinor, and dear God I would pray more if 
the ship would keep still, and I was n’t so sick ; but 
I will just try to say God bless the little heathen 
boy that talks hen-talk. Amen.” 


MARIAN STARTS. 


19 


After three disagreeable days, when we were all 
very sea-sick, there came smooth weather and glori- 
ous sunshine ; and on the day before Christmas every- 
body was on deck watching for steamers or whales 
or porpoises, or anything else but water. It was 
just like most other voyages, as far as the ocean and 
the ship and the weather were concerned ; but it was 
unlike other voyages in our having a Christmas cele- 
bration on board. 

When the sun was going down on Christmas eve, 
Marian came to me and asked, — 

" Do you think it will freeze ? ” 

" What, my dear? ” 

" Why, the water. If it does n’t, how will Santa 
Claus get here ? ” 

"He might have a boat,” I ventured to say. 

" Or come riding on a whale,” said Aunt Elinor. 

" Or with a flying-machine, like Darius Green,” 
I said, and would, no doubt, have suggested other 
possible modes of conveyance, had not a deep voice 
by our side said, "He swims.” 

It was the captain, and of course he knew all 
about it, and that was the end of it. 

" Captain,’’ asked Marian, " where does that smoke- 
stack go to ? ” 


20 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" Come, and I ’ll show you.” And in a twinkling 
he had Marian on his shoulder, and was going down 
a narrow iron stair into the boiler-room. 

Down, down they went to where grimy men 
were shovelling in coal to great fires that roared and 
glowed most frightfully. 

"There,” said the captain, "there is where the 
smoke-stack goes to.” 

Marian looked very much disappointed, as she 
said, — 

"Well, I don’t believe Santa Claus could stand 
that fire a minute ! besides, I ’m afraid there is no 
place here to hang our stockings.” 

"Oh I that’s it, is it?” said the captain. "Well, 
then, let me tell you, Miss Marian, that on shipboard 
Santa Claus doesn’t come down the chimney; he 
comes over the side of the ship, and I shall lower 
a rope ladder and leave it all night for him to climb 
up by.” 

" And where shall we hang our stockings ? ” asked 
Marian. 

" Oh, hang them in the companion-way, and he ’ll 
see them.” 

So that night Marian and the other children on 
board hung their stockings in the companion-way, 


MARIAN STARTS. 


21 


which is the passage leading from the deck to the 
saloon, and which Marian always called the front 
entry. 

Sure enough, when Christmas morning came the 
stockings were found all filled ; and such a jollification 
as there was in the saloon when the children fished 
out their contents ! Yastarra had as much as anybody, 
and Yastarra’s papa and mamma had made each of the 
children a present of some Japanese toy. And what 
a merry day everybody had ! In the afternoon the 
stewards got up a concert, and blacked their faces, 
and sung negro songs, and danced, and cut jokes on 
each other ; and the sailors, they had an extra dinner 
and sung songs, and the grown-up passengers they 
had a great dinner and made speeches, and had the 
roast beef and plum pudding all stuck over with 
English and American flags and Christmas mottoes. 
But the children’s dinner was the crowning glory of 
the whole celebration. There was a great fish served, 
all steaming hot it looked, and when it was cut into, 
it proved only to be a pasteboard fish and filled with 
sweetmeats ; and there was a joint of beef that was n’t 
beef at all, but turned out to be only a make-believe, 
and when that was cut it was full of favors, little 
rosettes of red-white-and-blue, with a picture of the 


22 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


ship in gilt in the centre ; and there was such a pie ! 
I wouldn’t dare say how big it was, but the captain 
cut it, and then said each child might "put in a 
thumb and pull out a plum.” 

Yasterra, he pulled out an elegant jack-knife, with 
which he cut his coffee-and-cream colored little Jap- 
anese fingers forthwith, and shouted " Ki-yi ! ” till 
they were done up in a handkerchief. And Marian, 
she pulled out a Noah’s ark, full of every kind of 
animals, from a hopper-grass to a hippopotamus. 
And another little girl, she pulled out a bouquet of 
artificial violets, out of which a fan popped, in the 
most mysterious way, when she pulled a string. 
And a little bit of a fellow that was there pulled out 
a trumpet that made more noise than a pig in a 
gate. And another little toddlekins, only four years 
old, he — bound to get the biggest plum of all — 
put in his hand and felt round till he caught hold of 
the fur of a toy dog, which barked so naturally 
when he squeezed it that he became afraid, and 
went and hid under a sofa. 

And then — O my, such a pie — the captain 
called for a candle, and lighted a little place in the 
centre of it, and pouf! it went off in parlor fire- 
works, that were quite dazzling to see. 


MARIAN STARTS. 


23 


After dinner, the doctor he came in with his 
share, and had a juggling entertainment. He walked 
right up to Marian, and putting his hands among 
her curls, pulled out a couple of carrots and a head 
of cabbage and other vegetables, till Marian begged 
him to stop, for he made her head feel like a kitchen 
garden. 

And then he took an empty dish, and covering it 
with a pocket-handkerchief, it suddenly became full 
of feathers. And he borrowed a watch and ham- 
mered it to pieces in a mortar, and then fired it out 
of a pistol all straight again, and going as tickfully 
as ever. And he did ever so many other things 
that I can’t remember, but which filled us all with 
wonder and delight. 

It grew to be quite late before he was through, 
and the children had begun to drop off to sleep, so 
that when he wound up his performances by eating 
a very hearty meal of cotton batting, and topped it 
off with a lighted coal which set the cotton ablaze, 
and made him blow out smoke like a house-a-fire, 
and when, at the very last, he began to reel off 
yards and yards of ribbon out of his mouth, some of 
which Marian has to this day, everybody was ready 


24 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


to go to bed ; and Marian said to me confidentially 
as I kissed her good night, — 

" I don’t think Santa Claus could have done better 
on shore ; and as for the captain, he ’s perfectly 
elegant.” 


A DAY IN LONDON. 


25 


CHAPTER II 


A DAY IN LONDON. 


T was long after sunset when we landed in 



-L Liverpool. The heavy fog that hung over the 
city made it very dark, but I could see a tear in 
Yang-Hi’s little almond-shaped eyes as he and 
Marian parted; as for Marian, she just raised her 
voice and had a good American cry, right there on 
the landing, and we took her into a cab, with her 
handkerchief over her eyes, and sobbing as if her 
heart would break. 

It was a hansom cab, and Marian had never seen 
one, or even heard of one. As soon as we started 
off, Marian stopped her crying and took down her 
handkerchief. The horse was dashing along at a 
fearful pace. Marian looked up into my face and 
said, — 

"Uncle Will, are you driving?” 

'*No, Marian.” 

" Are you, Aunt Elinor ? ” 


26 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


" No.” 

" Then I think the horse is running away,” said 
Marian ; and she clung close to my arm, expecting 
every minute to be thrown out on the pavement ; but 
I explained to her how the driver was up behind, 
and hardly finished doing so when we pulled up at 
the Adelphi Hotel, and were speedily shown to 
cosey rooms in that famous hostelry. 

Marian had a light supper and was put to bed with 
the light left burning, while Aunt Elinor and I 
betook ourselves to the great coffee-room to have a 
rousing dinner of " roast beef of old England,” and 
ever so many other good things. 

It was the first time Marian had ever slept in a 
hotel, and the first time she had ever seen a bed with 
a curtain to it. " I shall feel,” she said, "as if I was 
sleeping in a circus ; and in the morning I ’ll have all 
my dolls out, and I ’ll have a menagerie or a camp- 
meeting or something, for it is so like a tent.” 

Marian meant to go right straight off to sleep, but 
she couldn't. She tried counting, but that didn’t 
make her sleepy. She was as wide awake at nine 
hundred and ninety-nine as she was at one. Then 
she shut her eyes and said all the nursery rhymes she 
could think of. She tried singing, — it was no use. 


A DAY IN LONDON. 


27 


" Well,” she said to herself, " as long as I can’t get to 
sleep, I may as well have a camp-meeting now.” 

So she crept out of bed, and got her dolls out of 
the trunk, and set them all in a row on the sofa, for 
she found the bed too small ; and by way of making 
a striking and impressive appearance, put on my 
figured dressing-gown, and arranging a cricket in a 
chair, began the services. 

" My goodness ! ” she said, " I have n’t rung the 
bell ! ” Then, seeing a bell-rope at hand, and not 
knowing the use of it, having been used to an elec- 
trical bell, she straightway began to pull it as she ’d 
seen the sexton do in church. When she ’d rung it 
enough, she assumed an air of great dignity, and 
began the services. 

" First we ’ll sing the two - hundred - and - tooth 
hymn ” ; and pulling out the second bureau-drawer, 
she improvised an organ. 

Then she made a prayer, after which she preached 
the following sermon, which was overheard and 
reported by the chambermaid, who had stolen in to 
answer the bell. 

"Dear friends, you’re all naughty. You know 
you are, or you would know it if you was n’t dolls. 
You ought to be good, and you could be if you tried ! 


28 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


Could n’t you think to put your bibs on for break- 
fast ? Could n’t you think to brush your teeth in 
the morning ? Don’t you think you could keep still 
when grown-up folks is talking? It is hard to do, 
but you ought to do it. You ought not to squeal 
when your hair is done up in tea-leads. You ought 
not to tell lies. You ought not to be saucy or 
imperent. You ought not to go with your shoes 
untied. Once there was a little girl named Marian. 
She went with her shoes untied, and fell down stairs 
over her shoe-strings, and skinned her nose and 
hurted her elbow — and cried awful. They had to 
give her bread and jelly to stop her, and her nose 
looked like a toadstool. 

" Telling lies is worse than shoe-strings. If you 
tell untrufes Aunt Elinor will put ink-spots on your 
lips till they look like my copy-book. That is what 
she did once to a little girl named Marian, that I ’ve 
been telling you about. General Washington never 
told a lie, and so his father gave him a hatchet, and 
let him cut down a cherry-tree, and he had a be-yew- 
ti-ful time. If he had told a lie his father would 
have punished him severeally, an’ so he das n’t. 
You ought not to dast to, but some of you look as if 
you had, and I guess I ’ll punish you for it right off ! ” 


A DAY IN LONDON 


29 


Marian’s sermon would not, perhaps, have come 
to so abrupt an ending, but she happened to spy an 
ink-bottle on the table, and it was too much for her 
to resist. Once she had had her own lips inked for 
telling a fib, and here was a chance to punish her 
dolls. So she inked the lips of one or two, and 
would probably have had them all inked had not 
the chambermaid made her presence known. 

"Did you ring, Miss ? ” she said, smilingly. 

" I rung the meetin’ bell,” said Marian, a little 
frightened. 

" Did you want anything ? ” 

" Yes ; I wanted to go to sleep, but I could n’t.” 

" Where is your mamma ? ” 

"My mamma is in heaven; my aunt and Uncle 
Will are down stairs.” 

"Do you wish me to call them? ” 

Marian stopped a minute to think, then she asked, 
" What do you think of my going down ? ” 

" Oh ! you ’d have to dress, and that would be too 
much trouble,” said the chambermaid. 

"I always go down when I’m wakeful at home,” 
answered Marian. "And I needn’t dress, either. 
I ’ll wear this pretty dressing-gown.” 

"I would n’t,” said the maid. 


30 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


"Well, I guess I will.” So, seizing a doll, 
Marian ran out into the hall, down the great stair- 
case, and just as we were finishing our dinner, my 
darling niece, clasping an inked doll to her heart, 
appeared in the doorway, to the consternation of 
that grave head-waiter, who looks as dignified as 
the President of the United States, at the very 
least. 

There she was, in her pretty night-dress, and 
her little bare ankles showing between its hem and 
her slippers, — there she was, with her golden locks 
folded under a dainty nightcap, — there she was, 
with my flowered dressing-gown trailing out behind, 
and I had n’t the heart to scold her, and so I folded 
her in my arms and kissed her over and over again 
as I took her up stairs and laid her in her curtained 
bed, and told her stories till the blue eyes showed 
only a line of golden lashes, and sweet little Marian 
was fast asleep. 

The next day we went up to London, and I asked 
Marian what she most wished to see. 

" The queen ! ” said Marian instantly. 

" What next ? ” I asked. 

"The wax- works,” answered Marian. 

"Next ?” 














































- 












' 



























































A DAY IN LONDON. 


31 


" The animals,” by which she meant the Zoological 
Gardens. 

" Next?” 

" The Crystal Palace.” 

" And all these things you shall see, my darling 
little Marian, if Uncle Will has health and strength, 
— all but the queen, and I ’m not certain about her. 
She don’t keep herself on exhibition, at a shilling 
admission.” 

" Could n’t we call ? ” asked Marian. 

" Not till she ’d called on us,” I replied, " and I ’m 
afraid she won’t do that ; she won’t know we ’re in 
London.” 

It was again night when we arrived in London, 
and we could n’t begin our sight-seeing till the next 
day. Marian woke me in the morning by pulling 
my whiskers, and wanted to know where all the 
smoke came from. "We can’t see plain across 
our room,” she said, "and I’m afraid the house is 
on fire.” 

I said it was only the fog, and told her to run and 
dress while I did the same, and then we ’d have 
" a regular day of it.” 

Before breakfast Aunt Elinor and I sat down to 
send cards to our London friends, so that they might 


32 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


know of our arrival and come and call on us. We 
explained it all to Marian, and she said she thought 
it a very good way, which of course was gratify- 
ing. We were busy for half an hour, and Marian 
kept busy too, with a pen and paper and unlimited 
ink. 

At last we had a big package of directed enve- 
lopes, with cards inside. Down we went to break- 
fast, and gave them to the waiter to put in the 
mail. In a minute he came back, his eyes as big 
as small saucers, and holding an envelope by the 
corner. It was a very smoochy envelope, and the 
waiter began : — 

"If you please, sir.” 

"Well?” 

" This ’ere letter, sir.” 

" Well, what of it?” 

"Beg parding, sir, but it is ’ardly the way to 
haddress ’er most gracious Majesty.” 

" What do you mean ? Who ’s addressed her most 
gracious Majesty ? ” 

" Beg parding again, sir, you ’ave, sir, hor some 
of your party. ’Ere ’s this ’ere letter was hamong 
them as you gave me.” 

I took the letter. On the back was written, 


A DAY IN LONDON 


33 



•Mr a r 





and inside was one of my cards, one of Aunt 
Elinor’s, and a tailor’s card, upon the back of 
which was the one word 



Marian looked ashamed when she saw her work in 
my hands, and I was for a moment inclined to scold 
her, only I laughed, and that spoiled the scold. 
There is nothing like a laugh to spoil a scold. 

" I thought I ’d let her know we were here,” said 
Marian, " and then maybe she ’d call. I did so 
want to see her.” 

"But you ought to have told us what you had 


3 


34 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


done, Marian ; you ought to have shown it to us, and 
not slipped it in slyly among our envelopes.” 

That was all the rebuke I could administer, and — 
do you know? — I was almost sorry the card had n’t 
gone. For that good woman, the queen, would 
have known it for some dear child’s work, and her 
motherly heart would have forgiven the unceremo- 
nious intrusion of Marian’s little missive. 

But after all it was Marian’s good fortune to see 
the queen, and on that very day. We were hardly 
through breakfast when our attention was attracted 
by everbody in the hotel hurrying to the doors and 
windows, and upon inquiry we learned that the 
queen was going that morning, at ten o’clock, to 
visit a hospital near by, and would pass the door. 
Our windows faced the street, and so we stationed 
ourselves at them to see the queen go by. Pretty 
soon Marian called out that two soldiers were com- 
ing. There they were, and very handsome uniforms 
they had, — not two only, but half a score ; and 
behind them came a very plain carriage, with two 
ladies in it. One was very plain and the other ver} r 
pretty. It was the queen and the Princess Beatrice, 
and behind them, in a rumble, rode Mr. John 
Brown, the queen’s constant attendant. 


A DAY IN LONDON. 


35 


" She ’s very red, is n’t she? ” said Marian, speak- 
ing of the queen. 

We were forced to admit that she was. " But 
then,” I added, " she ’s very good, and all the people 
love her.” 

" That black bonnet, with purple none-so-pretties 
(New-English for pansies) in it, don’t look much 
like a crown, and her sceptre isn’t anything more 
than a parasol ! ” exclaimed Marian, a regular little 
woman, to begin at once criticising the queen’s 
dress. And she had hardly time for this remark 
before the queen’s carriage whirled out of sight. 

That evening Marian wrote a letter, — or rather I 
wrote a letter at Marian’s dictation, — in which she 
gave her impressions of London and of the queen, 
as follows. The letter was to a little home playmate 
of hers : — 

My dear Lulu, — We are herein London, the biggest 
city in the world. It is very foggy. The fog looks like 
.smoke, and smuts things. I spoiled my gloves to-day by 
Irunning them down the banisters, which were dirty with 
the fog. Uncle Will says there is smoke mixed with it, and 
that is what makes it so nasty. 

The carriages here are mostly chaises, and the drivers 
ride on top and swear at their horses. There is a little trap 
door in the top which you poke up with your parasol, and say, 
“ Hi I ” if you want to stop. 


36 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Dear Lulu, I ’ve seen the queen! You know that picture 
we have, where she ’s standing on a flight of steps, with an 
awning over her, and a fur robe with a trail on, and a crown 
on her head, and looks elegant, with a sceptre in one hand 
and a roll of paper in the other? Don’t you believe a 
word of that picture. She is quite an old lady, and very 
stout. But she looks pleasant, though. She had a very 
pretty bonnet on, made of silk, and purple velvet pansies, and 
a cloak and dress all trimmed round with ermine, and there 
was a be-yew-ti-ful young lady with her, who is her daugh- 
ter, and who is named Beatrice. Some people shouted 
“Hooray” as she passed, and she nodded to them ! I sup- 
pose she knew them, though Uncle Will thinks not. 

We have seen a good many things to-day, mostly streets 
and milliners’ shops and tailors’ shops, for Uncle Will and 
Aunt Elinor have been shopping, and I ’ve bought a two- 
shilling doll, which I have named Beatrice, after the queen’s 
daughter ; and when she gets a little older, I ’m going to 
change her name to Victoria, after the queen. 

The queen is a very good woman; and to-day, at the 
hospital where she went a* visiting, she stopped and talked 
with all the sick children, anc^made them presents, and most 
everybody loves her, which is better than being handsome, 
though I ’d rather be both good and handsome. Aunt Elinor 
says I’ll be neither unless I go to bed earlier, and as it’s get- 
ting late I ’ll say good night, and will write you again soon. 

Your affectionate 


Marian. 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 


37 


CHAPTER III. 

SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 

I T was at breakfast one morning I said to Marian, 
" There ’s the wax-works, there ’s the Crystal 
Palace, and there ’s the Zoological Gardens : now 
which shall it be first, my lady ? ” 

We often called her "my lady” when she came 
down in a tidy and well-behaved and good-humored 
condition, — and that was pretty nearly always. 

"Well, Uncle Will, I don’t know. If there was 
only one I could decide in a minute.” 

" Let her decide by her nose,” said Aunt Elinor. 

" And mouth,” I added. 

" And sugar,” put in Marian. 

"Yes. She shall decide by her mouth and nose 
and sugar,” I said, and straightway began to make 
preparations. It was n’t a new plan, by a good 
deal ; we ’d done it times and times at home, and it 
worked beautifully. So I put my hand in the sugar- 
bowl, and extracted three lumps. 


38 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


"That,” said I, laying down a very big one, "is 
the Crystal Palace, and that,” laying down a smaller 
one, " is the Zoological Gardens, and that little bit 
of a one is Madame Tussaud’s Wax-Works. Now, 
Marian, all ready?” And Marian threw her head 
back until her hair hung over the chair like a 
shower of gold, and opened her mouth, while I bal- 
anced the Crystal Palace on her nose. 

"One — two — three ! ” and Marian gave her head 
a toss, and opened her dainty mouth, but she 
could n’t catch the Crystal Palace in it, and it rolled 
under the table, where a little poodle belonging to 
one of the guests gobbled it up in no time. 

Then I took the Zoological Gardens, and put that 
on Marian’s nose, and — "One, two, three!” and 
down fell the Zoo, right into Aunt Elinor’s lap. 

" O dear ! ” exclaimed Marian, " I don’t seem to 
have any luck at all ! I must be more careful with 
the wax- works.” 

And sure enough she was more careful, and 
" One, two, three ! ” the w T ax-works were caught in 
the rosy little trap, and thus it was decided that we 
should go straight to Madame Tussaud’s. And 
what a curious place it is ! and what fun we had ! 

There was a long hall at the head of the stairs, 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON 


39 


and in it such a company. There were kings and 
queens and their courts, and there were generals and 
their staffs, and there were good men and bad men 
all mixed up together, and all in their best clothes 
and their company faces. There was a figure of our 
martyred President, very long and lank, and in a suit 
of clothes which would have been a good fit for the 
Norway giant that stood opposite, yet were much 
too big and baggy for Mr. Lincoln. 

And there was General Grant, in a beard like a 
shoe-brush, and in a uniform like a tailor’s lay figure, 
looking very uncomfortable, and as if he wished 
Madame Tussaud would give him permission to sit 
down and smoke a cigar. And there was the Key. 
Henry Ward Beecher, looking very glum at the 
Key. Mr. Spurgeon, who was looking very glum at 
him. 

There were heads of criminals, who looked as if 
they ’d walked right out hair-dressers’ windows to 
rob and murder their victims, who were also repre- 
sented, with agonized faces, and bleeding great 
drops of red sealing-wax, for which their stuffed 
bodies had been tapped at convenient and conspic- 
uous spots. All the faces of the respectable wax 
people were very clean and polished, and all the 


40 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


faces of all the bad people were rather dirty and 
neglected. The Duke of Wellington was shaved so 
close that the barber might have skinned his face 
and have done with it, while the " Outlaw of 
Hounslow Heath” had a very nasty beard, of a 
week’s growth at the very least. 

Some of the figures had clock-work inside of 
them and moved. The pope was always a-putting 
up his right hand, like a school-boy who wants to be 
noticed by his teacher, and blessing people with two 
fingers, as if he were making signals to somebody 
hidden in the chandelier, to which he had rolled up 
his eyes in a very knowing way. And as for the 
Sleeping Beauty, an exquisite wax creature in white 
satin, her bosom moved with her breathing as life- 
like as a pair of bellows. 

Marian was amazed and delighted at all this con- 
course of great and small and good and wicked peo- 
ple. Her conversation for the next half-hour was 
mainly comprised in " Oh, mys ! ” and other excla- 
mations of wonder and delight. The group that 
pleased her most was, I think, that representing 
Queen Victoria and her court. There was the 
queen, with a very royal expression on her wax 
face, staring out of her glass eyes at the Duke of 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 


41 


Cambridge, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
and all the rest of the princes and princesses, down 
to the very youngest of the lot, who had been smug- 
gled to the court reception in a cradle. 

" She looks much prettier in wax than she does 
real,” said Marian to me confidentially, "and I like 
those clothes ever so much better than those she 
wore in the carriage. I suppose these are like what 
she wears when she’s at home. Do you suppose 
she ever lets that baby in the cradle play with her 
crown ? ” 

And she would probably have gone on to much 
greater length with her comments and questions, 
had I not suddenly discovered that she was stand- 
ing before a very old lady, who was seated before 
the group, and obviously could n’t see much of it 
through Miss Marian Yane, who, though she was a 
very little girl, was not transparent. 

"Oh! I didn’t see that old lady,” said Marian. 
"Don’t she look old, Uncle Will? See how she 
leans on her umbrella, and how her hand trembles 
and her head shakes. She looks as old as Jerusa- 
lem ! ” 

Methusaleh she meant ; but I stopped her short 
lest the old lady should hear her, and did n’t even 


42 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


take the occasion to correct her, but led her round 
to the other side of the group. But the old lady — 
so very feeble that her head shook with the fatigue of 
keeping it erect — had roused Marian’s interest and 
sympathy ; and while Aunt Elinor and I were dis- 
cussing the various orders with which the queen’s 
family were decorated, our little one stole back to the 
old lady’s side, and said, in her most winning tones, 
"I’m very sorry I got in your way”; and by way 
of reparation offered that lady her choice out of a 
paper of candies. 

The old lady didn’t so much as look up, and 
Marian said to herself, " She must be deaf ! ” and 
holding the paper of candy right under her nose 
said, a little louder, " Won’t you have some candy? 
There ’s some chocolate creams there, if you have n’t 
any teeth.” 

Still the old woman went on shaking her trembly 
hand, and clutching her umbrella with her black- 
gloved, trembly hand, and took no notice of 
Marian. 

" Maybe she ’s blind, too,” said Marian, half aloud ; 
and she put her head down close under the old 
woman’s bonnet, and then, taking a pin from her 
dress, ran it in up to the head in the gloved hand, 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 


43 


and then walked blushingly away, trying to look as 
if she had known the old woman to be wax all the 
time, and had been talking to her only for the fun 
of the thing. 

Aunt Elinor and I of course laughed at Marian a 
little ; but bless me ! we did n’t mean to make her 
feel so badly, and would n’t have done it on any 
account if we had known how sensitive and mortified 
the child was. There were two great, round tears 
rolling down Marian’s cheeks before we knew it, 
and by way of diverting her Aunt Elinor said, — 

" See, Marian, how nicely they dress their figures. 
Here, now, is an elegant camel’s-hair shawl on this 
one, and a bonnet that is quite the latest thing ! ” 
And Aunt Elinor put on her eye-glass, and took up a 
corner of the shawl to 'admire its fineness, when sud- 
denly the figure turned about, and a lady, blushing 
very red and looking quite angry, said, — 

"If you please, ma’am, I’d prefer that you let my 
shawl alone. I ’in no wax figure, ma’am, no more 
than you are, and I think your remarks is ’ighly 
himpudent ! ” 

Aunt Elinor now had her turn at blushing, and 
while she asked the woman’s pardon, Marian first 
began to smile and then began to laugh, and laughed 


44 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


louder and louder, till you could have heard her all 
over the place. 

Well, after a while Marian became tired, and said 
she guessed she would go and sit down by the little 
princess in the cradle, which she admired greatly and 
quite coveted, it was " such a lovely doll-baby of a 
thing.” It was warm, and Marian took off her bon- 
net and pushed her hair back, and pulled off her 
little seal-skin jacket, and sat herself down for a 
good, long look at the wax baby. Then she began 
thinking, suppose all the people there should suddenly 
come to life and begin talking, and wondering what 
they would say. She was so wrapt up in her own 
fancies that she did n’t so much as wink, and did n’t 
take the least notice of what people were saying 
about her. A lady and gentleman and little boy 
came up, and the lady said, addressing the boy, — 
"Here, Harry, here is the little baby princess I 
told you of. How do you like it ? ” 

" First-rate,” said Harry. " I wish Dick was like 
it ; then he would n’t cry if I touched him.” 

" After all, it ’s only wax, and Dick is real. It ’s 
very pretty, but I like Dick much better,” said the 
lady, and turning towards Marian, she said, — 

"I suppose this is some other member of the 










SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON 


45 


royal family. How plainly she’s dressed for a 
princess ! ” 

"They say the queen is a most sensible mother 
about such things,” said the gentleman, " and the 
child is dressed quite well enough.” 

" What lovely hair ! ” said the lady ; " it ’s the most 
natural thing I ’ve seen. And just feel how silky it 
is ! ” And she took up one of Marian’s curls in her 
hand. 

" Oh ! ” said Marian, turning romid suddenly. " I 
was so busy thinking I did n’t notice.” Whereupon 
the little boy doubled himself up with laughing, and 
the gentleman smiled, and the lady, stooping down, 
said, "You dear little girl, I thought you were wax, 
and was admiring your hair. I hope you ’ll excuse 
me.” 

A n d when Aunt Elinor and I came back to find 
Marian, there was the lady and the little boy and the 
gentleman all listening to our little lady, who was 
telling them how she had been deceived, and how 
Aunt Elinor had been deceived, and we soon found 
out that we were all Americans, and were all living 
at the same hotel, and had all come from the same 
State ; and we soon became such very good friends 
that we all went back to the hotel together in a four- 


46 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


wheeler ; and from that time on Harry and Marian 
went sight-seeing together, and played together, and 
halved their griefs and doubled their joys together ; 
and " Only think,” said Marian, " it was all because 
Mrs. Ludlow took me for a wax figure ! ” 

Harry and Marian became very good friends after 
this, Marian assuming a very matronly way with the 
lad, on account of her being nearly three years 
older, and showing him a degree of condescension 
that he was sometimes moved to protest against, in 
view of his superiority as a boy. 

But on the whole the children got along remark- 
ably well together, and their conversations were 
most amusing. We took them both to that marvel- 
lous fairy-land of delight, the Crystal Palace, where 
tropical plants grow thriftily the year round, where 
fountains are splashing and murmuring in every 
direction, where graceful statues stand peeping out 
from thickets of palm and evergreen, and where 
beautiful things are gathered together from all parts 
of the world. 

In one part was a little pond, and in it was blooming 
a water-lily, so big that a little girl was stood up on 
one of its broad leaves, and in another part they saw 
an aquarium, in another an aviary full of loud- 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON 


47 


mouthed, gay-plumaged birds. They were there all 
day, and on coming away Marian said, — 

"My brain is in a whirl trying to remember all 
the things, for you know I must remember them 
to explain to that curly-headed little tot of a Harry.” 

And we took them to the Zoological Gardens 
together, where the animals were good enough to 
behave their very best for us. The monkeys were 
never more frisky, and never left off their grotesque 
gymnastics all the while we were looking at them. 
The hippopotamus, with an accommodating spirit 
which to look at him I should never have given him 
credit for, opened his pink mouth till it looked like a 
huge cavern lined with shell; and as for the baby 
hippopotamus, he was that frisky that you ’d have 
thought he was an overgrown kitten. The elephants 
too ! what unlimited cake they condescended to eat 
from Marian’s hand ! It was most fascinating to see 
them tuck it into themselves with their restless, curly 
trunks. And as for the lions, they made a regular 
party of it. There was a very grave old lion, with a 
shaggy mane that looked as if it had n’t been combed 
for a twelvemonth, who sat in a corner of the cage 
and tried to look dignified, but would once in a while 
put his newspaper — I mean his paw — before his 


48 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


face, and give a suppressed roar of a chuckle to see 
the baby lions play with their mamma’s tail; and 
she, poor creature, having just given the four little 
cubs their dinners, and washed their faces till they 
were spick-span clean, was trying to get forty winks 
of a nap. Of course she could n’t do it, and I ’d like 
to see anybody get a nap with four lion cubs playing 
about them. Could you ? 

Oh, it was quite a wonderful day, I assure you, 
and it made such an impression on Marian that she 
could not keep it out of her mind. 

" Harry,” she said, just after dinner, "now don’t 
you talk to me, for I ’m very tired, and I ’m going to 
lie right down on this sofa and go over all the things 
we ’ve seen, in my mind, so I can explain them to 
you to-morrow.” 

And Harry, being rather tired, was quiet; and 
presently Marian, whose eyes were fixed on the 
chandelier, saw the lighted candles begin to increase 
and multiply until, instead of ten, there were ten 
thousand, and instead of a crystal chandelier, there 
was avast palace, so high that the stars were gathered 
under its roof, and its rafters were rainbows. It was 
beautifully decorated with gigantic palms, which 
spread their leaves in the sky, and had suns and 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 


49 


moons hung among their branches, where she could 
see various colored monkeys frisking among the 
leaves, and every monkey had a gold collar on, to 
which was attached rows of tinkling silver bells. 
And stretching across the vast palace was a sun- 
beam, upon which sat four and twenty thousand 
birds of all colors and sizes, all of which were trying 
to learn the multiplication-table in the Hindostanee 
language, from a very dignified and aged owl, who 
was perched on the top of a jet of water, and who 
wore spectacles that were as big and glowed as 
fiercely as a locomotive lantern. 

Of course, all in and out among the trees that 
grew in this great palace were lions and white mice 
and elephants and rabbits and hippopotami and 
guinea-pigs, playing at their own sweet will. Afraid 
of them? Of course she wasn’t, for hadn’t shea 
pearl-handled umbrella, covered with red, white, and 
blue silk, with which to defend herself, and weren’t 
Harry and Yang-Hi both there to defend her, and 
both these young gentlemen armed to the teeth with 
great bars of red sealing-wax, and spears made of 
golden-eyed needles ? 

There was a great lake also, in which one could 
see white whales sporting beneath the leaves of the 

4 


50 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


lilies, which lily-leaves were, of course, so big that 
Marian had a tea-party on one of them, to which all 
her dolls, having grown to be be-yew-ti-ful young 
ladies in bridal veils, were all invited, and would 
have behaved very nicely, had they not continually 
stopped to skate on the surface of the lake, which, 
though it was n’t exactly frozen, seemed to be very 
slippery indeed. But just as the dolls had finished 
supper, there was a voice that went all through the 
palace, and called, " Marian ! Marian ! ” 

" O dear ! ” said Marian to herself, " must I leave it 
all so soon ? and there ’s Uncle Will calling me ” ; 
but just then she forgot all about the voice, for the 
guinea-pigs began to swallow the white mice, and 
the rabbits swallowed the guinea-pigs, and the foxes 
came out from the ferns and swallowed the rabbits, 
and the wolves swallowed the foxes, and the little 
brown bears swallowed the wolves, and the white 
bears swallowed the brown bears, and the grizzlies 
swallowed the white bears, and the tigers swallowed 
the grizzlies, and the lion swallowed the tigers, 
and the hippopotamus swallowed the lion, and the 
elephant swallowed the hippopotamus, and then, 
picking up Marian with his trunk, marched straight 
out of the palace with her on his back. 


SIGHT-SEEING IN LONDON. 


51 


And the elephant suddenly changed to Uncle 
Will, who had Marian in his arms and was carrying 
her to her bedroom, and to whom she said, as she 
nestled her curly head on his shoulder, " O Uncle 
Will, I ’ye had such a dream ! and I ’ll tell you about 
it to-morrow.” 

And she did, and I ’ye told it to you, and how do 
you like it? 


52 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


CHAPTER IV. 

AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS. 

I NSTEAD of a few days in London, we stayed for 
weeks. Marian saw no end of beautiful things, 
and even went so far as to establish a little enter- 
tainment of her own on the plan of Madame Tus- 
saud’s wax-works, having dressed up her dolls to 
represent Queen Victoria’s court, and made a " tor- 
ture-chamber,” of which the principal features were 
her crimpers, her tooth-brush, and a very much 
thumbed spelling-book. 

During all her stay Marian had kept a diary, her 
Aunt Elinor and myself writing in it each night, fol- 
lowing exactly, and without comment or correction, 
the dear child’s dictation. Let me give you a few 
pages of it, because I think Marian described her 
sight-seeing much more vividly, and certainly more 
briefly, than I could have done. Here is one : — 

" Uncle Will took me to Westminster Abbey, 
which is a graveyard in a church with painted win- 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS. 


53 


dows. It is a very large church, and there are a 
great many very handsome gravestones in it. At 
one grave Aunt Elinor and Uncle Will both cried. 
Aunt Elinor cried with her handkerchief, and Uncle 
Will tried to pretend he was n’t crying, but he picked 
me up and kissed me when I asked him what was the 
matter — and his cheek was wet. I asked him 
whose grave it was, and he told me Mr. Dickens was 
buried there. After that we saw the tombs of lots 
of queens and kings and princes and folks, but they 
didn’t cry any more. We saw the chair in which 
the kings and queens of England sit when they’re 
crowned ; and a very uncomfortable time they must 
have of it, for it ’s a dreadfully rough chair, with a 
paving-stone for a seat. People used to believe that 
this stone was the one upon which Jacob rested his 
head when he had the dream about the angels and 
the ladder, but Uncle Will says it is n’t at all likely. 
I think they ought to paint the chair and put a cush- 
ion in it. A good many of the tombs need repair- 
ing. Some of them have statues with the noses 
gone, and a good many have the feet and hands 
knocked off. Westminster Abbey is a beautiful 
church, but it was rather shivery.” 

Here is another extract about the Tower : — 


54 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" We went to the Tower of London to-day to see 
the crown-jewels and other things. A fat man, with 
a red nose and a purple-and-black uniform, showed 
us about. He is called a 'beef-eater,’ and he looks 
as if it might be true. There are a good many 
' beef-eaters ’ in the Tower, and they ’re all fat, and 
have red noses 

That look like roses, 

And purple clothes-es, 

And gouty toes-es. 

The last line is Uncle Will’s, the rest is my poetry. 
The crown- jewels are very handsome, and are kept 
in a glass case inside of an iron cage. There are 
four or five crowns and sceptres, and all kinds of 
beautiful jewelry. An old woman, in a black alpaca 
dress, shows them off, and talks as fast as a multipli- 
cation-table. I did want to try a crown on, and 
asked her, but she only said, ' Won’t somebody keep 
that foolish child still ? ’ I thought it was mean of 
her, for I shouldn’t have hurt the crown at all.. 
These are the queen’s best crowns ; I suppose she 
keeps her every-day crowns in a bureau-drawer 
where she lives. I should like ever so much to visit 
the queen, and have crowns and sceptres to play 
with. 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS . 55 

"We saw lots of prisons in the Tower, very 
Afraid’ sort of places. We saw the place where 
they used to chop people’s heads off, and the axe 
they did it with, and the block that they did it on. 
That was years and years ago, but it made Aunt 
Elinor quite faint to think of it. The Tower is very 
old, more than seven hundred years, Uncle Will 
says. We saw a great many suits of iron clothing, 
called armor, for which I didn’t care very much. 
Some of the suits looked like old sheet-iron stoves, 
with chimney-pots for hats ; and how they ever 
walked in them I don’t know.” 

That was Marian’s version of her visit to the 
Tower. I don’t think she cared much for what she 
saw, except for the crown-jewels, and her enthusiasm 
for them was cut short, as she has told you, by the 
dreadful old chatterbox that shows the treasures. 
I ’m afraid she did not tell you enough about the 
queen’s crown, and so let me add a little bit. It 
consists of diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and 
emeralds, set in silver and gold ; it has inside, and 
showing between the bands of jewels, a crimson vel- 
vet cap, with an ermine border, and lined with white 
silk. It must be a very uncomfortable sort of head- 
gear, for it weighs thirty-nine ounces and five 


56 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


pennyweights Troy. It contains one large ruby, as 
big as a man’s thumb, one large, broad sapphire, 
that seems to be a bit of crystallized sky, sixteen 
smaller sapphires, eleven emeralds, that sparkle in 
vivid green like a dew-wet meadow in springtime, 
four rubies, that are as red as the blood that has 
been shed in the dreadful Tower, one thousand three 
hundred and sixty-three diamonds, that are no 
brighter than Marian’s eyes, one thousand two hun- 
dred and seventy-three rose diamonds, one hundred 
and forty-seven table diamonds, four drop-shaped 
pearls, and two hundred and seven-three other 
pearls. 

And now I shall take a few lines from Marian’s 
journal, which will form the text for the rest of this 
chapter : — 

" Yesterday we went down to Chislehurst, to see 
the Empress Eugenie, who is n’t an empress any 
longer, and the Prince Imperial, who hopes, one of 
these days, to be Emperor of France.” 

How it came about we need not stop to consider ; 
it is enough that the Prince Imperial, having reached 
his nineteenth birthday, there was to be a fete at 
Chislehurst, and we were all invited to it, so started 
off one March morning for the little Kentish town 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS. 


57 


where the imperial exiles live. Marian was in high 
feather ; and very sweet she looked in her dainty 
dress of white, with violet ribbons, for on this occa- 
sion every one wishes to wear violet or violets, out 
of compliment to the empress, who has chosen that 
sweet flower and color for her own. 

The great Charing Cross Station in London was 
crowded with people going to the same place as our- 
selves. There were Frenchmen of every class, from 
the duke to the peasant, and all wearing a nosegay 
of violets, or carrying a more elaborate offering of 
the same flower. It was more like a French than 
an English station, for everybody was speaking the 
French language, and everybody was much more 
polite and cheerful than an English crowd would 
have been under similar circumstances. 

" It is quite like a May party,” said Marian, as we 
whirled along above the roofs of the London houses, 
and out into the open country, and among the green 
fields, and at last came to the modest little Chisle- 
hurst station, where the French and English flags 
were waving harmoniously side by side. 

We found a carriage, and first drove off to the 
chapel where the dead Emperor is buried, and 
where a religious service was in progress. Marian 


58 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


did n’t like that part of it, and whispered to me, as 
they chanted the funeral psalms, — 

" I thought we were coming to a f6te, and it turns 
out to be a funeral.” 

But pretty soon the memorial service was over, 
and everybody was as smiling and happy as ever. 
The empress and the Prince Imperial took their 
carriages for Camden House, and all the crowd 
followed, cheering, and crying out, " Vive Vlmjpera- 
trice 1 ” and the sweet-faced empress bowed very gra- 
ciously to the people who hailed her so earnestly. 

At last we came to the gates of Camden Place, 
and were admitted, after a little crowding; having 
inscribed our names in the visitors’ book, we passed 
into the spacious grounds. Very fresh and beauti- 
ful the park looked on that spring day, and Marian 
could n’t resist the temptation to take a run on the 
grass. She ’d better not have done it, for she 
stumbled over a croquet-arch, and fell and greened 
her dress, and soiled her gloves, and otherwise 
demoralized her costume. 

Pretty soon we came to a large tent, at one end of 
which was a platform. The tent was full of people, 
the platform was empty. But after a little while, 
the great red curtains at the back of it were swung 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS. 


59 


aside, and there appeared a young man of eighteen, 
leading a pale-faced, beautiful woman, all in black, 
but looking proud and happy under her widow’s cap. 
It was the Prince Imperial and his mother. 

What a shout went up as they walked to the front 
of the platform, followed by a line of princes, 
dukes, and other distinguished men ! Marian looked 
disappointed, and whispered to me, " She has n’t 
got on her crown, either.” 

" She has n’t any now,” I replied. 

" Well, she might have borrowed one of the 
queen, then,” said Marian. "I don’t see the use 
of being an empress if one is n’t to wear a crown ; 
and as for the prince, I thought he ’d look like the 
one in Cinderella.” 

Marian had other comments to make, but a very 
grave-looking gentleman began making a speech at 
the prince and to the people, and then the prince 
replied to it, and then there was more cheering, 
and in the midst of it all an old woman, wearing 
a woollen shawl over her shoulders and another 
twisted about her head, came forward, and amidst 
much cheering, went up to the prince and saluted 
him. She was the leader of the market-women 
of Paris, and the first person who had kissed the 


60 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


young prince after his baptism, eighteen years 
before. Marian’s eyes sparkled when she saw this 
quaint figure, and she evidently thought that all 
was about to be transformed into fairy-tale reality, 
for she asked me in a whisper if that was " the 
fairy godmother.” 

After the services in the tent, the empress and 
the prince, whom the enthusiastic Frenchmen now 
hailed as emperor, went into the house, where there 
was a reception. Everybody was presented to the 
imperial people, and Marian among the rest. We 
put on our " company faces,” and looked very sol- 
emn and dignified, Aunt Elinor and I ; but Marian, 
she just walked up to the empress, and looking 
up into her beautiful, tender eyes, said, "I like you 
even better than the queen ! ” 

O Marian ! Why will you say everything that 
comes into your mind ? 

The empress did n’t seem to heed what Marian 
had said, but bent down, and took one of her 
golden curls in her hand, and asked her about 
her dolls, and I don’t know what else she would 
have said, had not Marian spied a kitten on the 
lawn, and broken away before we knew what she 
was about. Presently she came running in with 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS . 


61 


the kitten m her arms, and exclaiming, "Isn’t she 
just a lovely kitty ? ” Whereupon the great ladies 
and the noble gentlemen all smiled, while we with- 
drew in some confusion, and Marian, all unconscious 
of having overstepped any bounds of etiquette, 
began humming a kitten-song, and looked very 
well contented with herself and the world generally. 

After the reception there was a luncheon, at 
which everybody drank everybody else’s health, and 
toasted the imperial entertainers with a right good- 
will. By the time luncheon was well over, the 
shadows lay long on the grass, and we turned our 
steps to the station. On our way there, we met 
several of the Chislehurst people, and learned from 
them how tenderly and lovingly the empress is 
regarded in the neighborhood. She has been like a 
good angel to the poor thereabouts. She never 
hears of a case of want without an attempt to relieve 
it. She is the friend of the Queen of England, and 
the people approve the friendship. She speaks 
English perfectly, and to her neighbors has been 
always kind and affable. So these strong-headed, 
loyal English people have learned a phrase of 
French, and when they shout, " God save the 
Queen ! ” supplement it with another cry, quite new 


62 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


to English lips, and raise their voices in a hearty, 
" Vive V Imjperalrice 1 ” 

On our way up to London we met in the train a 
gentleman connected with the household of one of 
the English princes. After talking a good deal 
about the downfall of the imperial throne of 
France, he told us a good many anecdotes of the 
English royal family, one of which I may relate here 
without any impropriety, as it is known and repeated 
in every home in England. Marian was very much 
amused by it, and laughed at it till the tears rolled 
down her cheeks. 

It seems that once at Balmoral the queen had for 
guests the little folks belonging to the Prince of 
Wales, and one day, when they were all having 
a pleasant family tea-party, with a few friends 
dropped in, little Prince Leopold was seized with a 
spasm of bad behavior,, which called for a severe 
reprimand from his royal grandmother, and quite 
shocked his pretty Aunt Beatrice. The queen spoke 
to him pretty severely, but it made no difference ; he 
behaved worse and worse, until finally she said, 
"Now, Master Leopold, you have been so naughty 
that I shall punish you. You must go under that cen- 
tre-table and stay there till you can be a good boy.” 


AN UNCROWNED EMPRESS. 


63 


So little Leopold hid his five-year-old self under 
the long cloth, which came nearly to the floor all 
round, and became very quiet. After a little while 
the queen said, "Now, Leopold, are you good?” 

"No, grandmother,” answered the little prince. 

After five minutes she repeated the question. 

And Leopold repeated the same answer. 

Another five minutes. 

" Now are you good ? ” asked the queen. 

" Yes, grandmother,” in a very sweet and good- 
natured voice. 

"Then you may come out.” 

And out came Master Prince Leopold, beaming 
and lovable, but not so much as a thread of clothes 
to cover his little royal body, and his eyes fairly 
sparkling with mischief. 

Wasn’t he wrapped up in a shawl and carried 
out in a hurry ! And the queen, — well, the queen 
smiled ; for though he was very naughty, was n’t he 
her dear little grandson, and how could she help it ? 


64 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


CHAPTER V. 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE, 


HE acquaintance that Marian made with little 



JL Harry Ludlow proved a very happy thing for 
her and for all of us. We found Mr. and Mrs. 
Ludlow very agreeable people, and as for Marian 
and Harry, they were together so much and were so 
fond of each other that we called them " the little 
lovers.” 

One day when Aunt Elinor and I were dressing 
to go out to dinner, and the door stood open between 
our room and the sitting-room, we heard the follow- 
ing conversation : — 

" Marian, can you read ? ” 

" Of course I can,” said Marian, " if the words are 
not too big.” 

"Well, how big words can you read?” asked 
Harry. 

" I can read words of seven letters easy enough,” 
replied Marian. 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE. 


65 


"Um,” said Harry, "that ain’t much. I know 
a girl who can read the whole Ten Commandments 
as fast as anything.” 

Marian thought that perhaps she might read them, 
but as to reading them fast she was afraid she 
could n’t, so she made no reply, but turned the sub- 
ject aside by asking Harry if he could read. 

" Some,” replied Harry. 

" How much ? ” asked Marian. 

"Words of one letter,” replied Harry. 

" There are no words of one letter,” said Marian, 
laughing. 

"Yes, there is,” said Harry, regardless of gram- 
mar. "There is A : don’t you say a fly and a 
boy?” 

"So you do,” said Marian, catching quickly at 
Harry’s idea ; " and there ’s B — honey-fee and 
bumble-fee, don’t you know?” 

"And be quiet and be good,” called out Aunt 
Elinor from our room. 

" B spells two words,” said Harry. 

" And so does C,” said Marian, "the sea we came 
over, see there, or see here. 

" D don’t spell anything though,” continued 
Marian. 


5 


66 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" Yes, it does,” I said, " it spells the name of a 
river up in Scotland.” 

"Fiddle-dee-c/ee/ ” laughed out Aunt Elinor. 

"What does E spell?” shouted Marian. "Isn’t 
it fun, Harry, to hear Uncle Will and Aunt Elinor 
play too ? ” 

" One E does n’t spell anything in English that I 
know of, but something might be done with it in 
Scotch, ' and dark blue was her ee,’ said I.” 

"Oh, you’ve put in two of them,” said Aunt Eli- 
nor, " and that makes easel ’ 

" Good ! ” I said, "but F we ’ll have to pass over, 
and G too, I’m afraid.” 

" Gee to a horse,” called out Marian. 

"H we ’ll let alone, being in England,” I said, "and 
go along to I.” 

"I is easy,” said Harry, "I’ve learned that,” put- 
ting his chubby forefinger into his great black eye 
and shouting out the name of that organ. 

"My, ay/” laughed Aunt Elinor. 

"J?” said I. 

" Blue jay ” answered Marian quickly. 

"K?” 

"Qaa/,” answered Aunt Elinor’s maid, who by this 
time had begun to understand what we were about. 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE. 


67 


"L?” 

" The ell to a house,” said Marian. 

"M?” 

"I don’t know, I’m sure, what we can spell with 
M,” said Aunt Elinor, "unless it is our dear, good 
Cousin 'Em.’” 

"N?” said I. 

" We ’ll learn that en repose” chimed in Aunt Eli- 
nor, proud of her French and regardless of the fact 
that even in a game such a dreadful pun was not al- 
lowable. No wonder that the maid cried " Oh / ” and 
then tried to look as if she had n’t opened her lips, and 
to put an end to her embarrassment and help along 
the alphabet, I said, — 

" Really, Elinor, we ’re taking the fun quite out of 
the children’s hands. There they sit wondering at us, 
as quiet as two peas in a pod.” 

I had no sooner said this than that wicked maid, 
Yictorine, asked demurely, — 

"Will madam have her hair done en queue?” 

" With R really I ’m afraid we can do nothing in 
the way of spelling a word,” I said. 

" Are you ? ” asked Marian. 

"Perfectly sure,” I replied; "and we’ll leave S 
also.” 


68 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" At least till after tea” said Aunt Elinor. 

" You said T yourself, you said T yourself, Aunt 
Elinor ! ” shouted Marian. 

"So did you” cried Harry. 

But none of us could spell anything with Y, — 
for not one of us would consent thatj^e was legiti- 
mate spelling, and we ’d already had two IPs, which 
certainly made W, and so passed on to X. 

" Why not call it ten? ” asked Aunt Elinor. 

"Because,” I said, "we wouldn’t call Y five.” 

And so we ended up with Z, and it was dinner- 
time, and Aunt Elinor was dressed, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Ludlow came in to go out to dinner with us, 
and we felt we ’d had a right good game with Marian 
and Harry. 

And " Really Harry,” said Marian, "I’d no idea 
how many words one could spell with one letter 
apiece.” 

It was that very same evening that Mr. Ludlow 
told us that he was going to leave immediately for 
Rome and take little Harry away from us. 

"You see,” said he, "we have only a few months 
to remain in Europe, the weather will soon be get- 
ting very warm in Rome, and we think we had better 
hasten on there, and take in Paris on our way back ; 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE. 


69 


besides,” he said, "by going now we can end up 
our Roman holiday in Easter week, and that is the 
very best time of the year in which to see Rome.” 

We thought Mr. Ludlow’s plan a very sensi- 
ble one, so sensible, indeed, that we concluded to 
adopt it for ourselves ; and so a few days afterward 
we were all crossing the channel and bound for 
Rome. 

The channel was dreadful, — it always is. Oh, the 
dreadful tossings of that journey ! Oh, the wretch- 
ed little crowded boats and the uncomfortable shak- 
ing about that the sea gave us ! Marian clapped her 
hands with delight at the idea of a water voyage, 
but had no sooner left the Dover dock than she 
began to have a very uncomfortable feeling, and was 
soon as ill as the rest. 

A steward began handing round basins as soon as 
we were fairly out, and when he handed Marian one 
she coolly said, "No, I thank you. I don’t wish to 
wash now.” 

Whereupon the steward smiled and said, "You’d 
better take it, against you need it,” and left it by 
Marian’s side. 

And we did all need our basins before we reached 
France, for we were all very ill, and walked through 


70 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


the fog at the Calais landing as abject and dispirited 
a group of beings as you can imagine. 

But the custom-house revived us. A very stupid 
official, with more gold-lace on his clothes than 
sense in his head, came to examine our trunks. 
With peculiar shrewdness he asked Aunt Elinor 
if she had any liquors or cigars in her trunk, and 
questioned Marian as to fire-arms and gunpowder. 
One by one they were opened, — all but Marian’s. 
The official pointed to that, whereupon Marian 
assumed a very decided look, and said it should 
not be opened. 

The officer looked suspicious. 

"Come, Marian,” I said, "give me the key.” 

"No, Uncle Will, I’d rather not,” said Marian in 
a tone that meant " will not,” and she grasped the 
key firmly in her hand. You know she wore it on 
the ribbon round her neck. 

"Marian, give it to Uncle Will this instant ! ” said 
Aunt Elinor, sternly. 

"0 Aunt Elinor, I can’t!” said Marian, in whose 
eyes the tears began to appear. 

" What has mademoiselle in her trunk ? ” said the 
official pompously, and evidently expecting that he 
should awe the child into a confession of having a 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE, 


71 


trunk full of all kinds of contraband goods. Marian 
looked him straight in the face, and answered 
boldly : — 

" I have my children, monsieur, and I can’t open 
the trunk for they ’re right on top — and not one of 
them dressed ! ” 

Instead of being satisfied with this confession, the 
man looked sterner and more stupid still, and said he 
begged all our pardons, but in the name of the law 
he must open the trunk. 

At last we persuaded Marian to give up the key, 
and the trunk was opened only to reveal a row of 
very innocent dolls, all in their nightgowns, and 
several of them with their hair twisted up in tea-leads 
with a view to coming out glorious in Paris. 

" It is all right,” said the official as coolly as if we 
had n’t made each other an unnecessary amount of 
trouble, and shutting down the lid, put a mark on 
to the trunk that passed it along to Paris. 

Then we went to a very cheerful and comfortable 
hotel for a lunch, and were no sooner seated at the 
table than Marian said, "How funny! All the 
waiters speak French and don’t understand English 
at all. They ’re all foreigners, I suppose ! ” 

"No, we are the foreigners, Marian.” 


72 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


"O Uncle Will, you must be joking; you know 
we’re Americans.” 

” Yes, but then we ’re out of our own country, and 
when we go to another country, we We foreigners.” 

”0 dear!” said Marian, looking rather sad. "I 
did n’t think I should ever live to be a foreigner, and 
I don’t like it.” 

But the little one soon became reconciled to her 
position, in fact became too tired to heed anything 
about it, as for days and days, hardly stopping to 
rest at all, we sped on to Rome. 

At last we were in the old, old city ; and we lin- 
gered there and " sight saw,” as Marian said, to our 
heart’s content. Of course Marian wanted most to 
see the Pope. 

She had heard Bridget, our good, homely Bridget, 
tell what a great man the Pope was, and how grandly 
he lived, and what power he wielded, and she wanted 
to see him. 

She had seen his palace, the great, wide stretch of 
buildings, so full of treasures of beauty, and she had 
also seen his church, the noble St. Peter’s Church, 
with its dome so big and so high that it seems to 
fold in a part of the sky. She could n’t quite under- 
stand how it was the Popes church, when "he didn’t 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE. 


73 


preach there”; but still, everybody said it was, 
and so she took it for granted with the rest. She 
was a sturdy little ignorant Protestant, and per- 
sisted in calling the great altar " the pulpit,” and 
couldn’t see, for the life of her, why people wet 
their fingers and crossed themselves when they went 
in and out ; but then she said, — 

" It ’s the Pope’s church and I suppose he wants 
’em too, and so they do it.” 

But when she had seen the Vatican with its 
pictures and St. Peter’s with its pictures, and 
walked round the church in just fourteen minutes by 
Uncle Will’s watch, and had been shown the Pope’s 
robes all studded with precious stones, — even then 
she did n’t feel satisfied : she had n’t seen the Pope. 

At last, there came a big envelope to the hotel, and 
inside, on a piece of letter-paper four times as big as 
this page, was a permission for the writer and Miss 
Marian Vale to have an audience with the Pope. 

"Now,” said I, "Marian, you’ll see His Holi- 
ness.” 

It was a sunshiny day when we drove into the 
great square in front of St. Peter’s Church, and 
pulled up at the door of the Vatican. 

Marian was dressed all in black, the invitation 


74 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


said she must be, and fortunately she had n’t out- 
grown her black velvet dress, though the weather 
was rather warm for it. Then she had on her head 
a black lace veil, that half hid her sunny curls, 
and made her look like a little Spanish senorita, — 
you see, every lady must go veiled to the Vatican, — 
and round her neck she had a little mosaic cross, 
which she was going to have blessed and take home 
to Bridget. 

We alighted from the carriage, and were received 
by a soldier of the Swiss Guards, who carried a long- 
handled axe that they call a halberd, and who was 
dressed in a suit that looked as Joseph’s coat must 
have looked when it was bran new. It was red and 
orange and black, from top to toe, and very graceful 
and pretty. 

He was to show us to the Pope’s apartments. 
Up and up and up we went, till Marian had counted 
two hundred and thirty-five steps ; and then he 
halted before a great gilded door, and slammed the 
but of his halberd down on the floor, as a signal, 
and the great door was opened for us. 

It was opened by a very magnificent man, a 
tall, broad-shouldered fellow in crimson velvet and 
brocade, who led us into the ante-chambre. " The 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE . 


75 


Pope’s front entry,” Marian called it, when she told 
her cousin Maud about it. 

There were ever so many of these splendidly dressed 
men walking about, and Marian could hardly believe 
it when I told her they were servants. She thought 
they must be princes at the very least, and had a 
strong feeling in favor of their being kings. One of 
these footmen led us through the ante-chambre , hardly 
giving us time to look at its walls, which were painted 
with beautiful pictures and gilded like Aladdin’s 
palace. At last he brought us to a heavy curtain 
of crimson, swung it aside : we passed under it, and 
into a long, narrow room with rows of chairs on 
each side and one arm-chair at the end. 

Here it was that we were to wait for Pius IX, the 
head of the Koman Catholic Church. 

There were some other people there, and everybody 
was in their best clothes and on their best behavior, 
and looking very solemn and uncomfortable. 

Pretty soon the curtain was swung aside again, 
and a group of gentlemen came in, some of them 
in robes of red, some of them in robes of purple, 
and some in sombre black. In the midst of them 
was a little old man, all in white, except that his 
shoes were red, and this was the Pope. 


76 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


He was a very old man, his shoulders were bent 
and he walked with a stick ; but he had such a good 
face. It was beaming with smiles, and his deep 
gray eyes looked so full of love and tenderness that 
one couldn’t help " loving back,” as Marian told me 
afterwards. 

Everybody paid the Pope the greatest of rever- 
ence, — all kneeling down to receive the old man’s 
blessing and some even kissing the ring on his finger. 

When he approached us, we knelt as the rest had 
done, and pretty soon he had his hand resting on 
Marian’s curls, and they were talking away as if 
they had known each other for years. 

" So you came from America, my little daughter ? 
and what brought you to Rome? ” said the Pope. 

"We came to see you,” resumed Marian, "and 
you look exactly like my grandfather, and I like 
you.” 

I looked at Marian, — gave her a look that meant 
" Silence ! ” but it was no use. 

"And do you like Rome as well as America?” 
asked His Holiness. 

"Oh, no, sir, but I like your church very much. 
We’ve been there several times, but you didn’t 
preach and we were afraid we should n’t see you.” 


MARIAN VISITS THE POPE. 


77 


The Pope looked much amused, and seeing the 
cross on Marian’s neck, took it in his hand and 
asked, "And have you brought this to be blessed?” 

"Oh, yes, — I nearly forgot, — it is for Bridget ; 
and just wait a minute. I ’ve got my China doll in 
my pocket. Maybe you ’d like to see her.” 

As true as you live, Marian had brought her last 
new China doll, and the Pope took it in his hands, 
and said how pretty it was, and then returning it 
passed on with an admonition to Marian always to 
be a good child, and with a good-by that sounded 
very much like anybody else’s good-by to a sweet 
little girl. 

All the conversation had taken place in French, 
which Marian speaks even better than she does 
English. 

Then the Pope went to the end of the room where 
he had entered, and there said a few good words, 
and blessed all the people. 

After that we went as we came, and in due course 
of time Bridget got her precious cross ; and as long 
as Marian lives she ’ll keep the China doll that the 
Pope once had in his hands as a very pleasant 
souvenir of her visit to the Vatican and her audi- 
ence with Pius IX. 


78 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


CHAPTER VI 


STILL IN ROME. MARIAN FIGHTS UNDER GARIBALDI. 

H, those Roman days, how much we all en- 



\-s joyed them ! Aunt Elinor divided her enthu- 
siasm between the ruins, the art galleries, and the 
shops. Marian and Harry did n’t care very much for 
the ruins or the galleries, but they did enjoy the 
parks and gardens, and the queer costumes of the 
peasants. Then there were ever so many fountains 
in our neighborhood, and their basins made such ex- 
cellent places for sailing miniature boats that our 
rooms at the hotel were turned into boat-building 
and boat-rigging establishments, and our two little 
folks hardly ever went out by themselves to play 
without coming back with wet cuffs. And if it had 
only been wet cuffs we should n’t have minded at all, 
but there comes back to me, as I write, the memory 
of one or two of Marian’s adventures that gave us 
a good deal of uneasiness at the time they happened, 
and which Marian allows me to tell, on condition 


STILL IN ROME. 


79 


that I add that "she is dreadfully sorry and will 
never, never do so again.” 

There was a shady square in front of our hotel, 
and in this square was a fountain. The square was a 
pretty safe place, and Marian and Harry had full per- 
mission to play there, with an understanding that 
they should n’t go out of sight of the hotel. But one 
day there came along a very strong temptation in the 
shape of an extraordinary hand-organ, with dancing 
figures in front of it and a monkey on top. It 
didn’t play in the square, but turned into a side 
street, and Marian and Harry both followed it. It 
actually played " Yankee Doodle” and "Hail Colum- 
bia,” and Marian was so delighted that she followed 
it down one street and up another, until an hour or 
two had gone by, and she had fairly lost her way 
back to the hotel. She first realized the fact by 
hearing Harry say, "Marian, I will not go another 
step. I’m tired out. Let ’s go back.” 

Then Marian looked about her, and discovered that 
she did n’t know the way back. There were great, 
high houses all about the children, and the streets 
were very dirty, and the people a very coarse kind 
of people ; and there they were, without a word of 
Italian to help them, and nobody knows how far 


80 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


away from home. The tears came in Marian’s eyes. 
" O Harry,” she said, " what shall we do ! ” 

"I don’t know,” answered Harry, who had a great 
mind to cry, but choked back the tears, and added 
bravely, " Let ’s sit down here on these steps and 
think. I ain’t afraid — are you, Marian ? ” 

" A little,” said Marian, and looked as if she meant 
very much. 

" Perhaps somebody will come along who can 
speak French or English, and then we can ask them 
the way back,” said Harry. 

"Perhaps,” said Marian, who had some misgiv- 
ings, but was so very warm and tired that she was 
glad to get any excuse for sitting down and resting. 

They waited a long while, and nobody passed by 
who spoke English or French, and so they con- 
cluded they would walk on, and keep walking till 
they came to some familiar place. After a little 
while, Harry, who had been limping pitifully, said, 

" Marian, my shoe hurts me, and I can’t walk any 
more.” 

" O dear ! you ’re too big for me to carry. What 
shall we do ? ” 

" I might take it off,” said Harry. 

" So you might.” 


t =, a 














































' 






































STILL IN ROME. 


81 


And Harry pulled off his shoes, and stockings 
too, and pattered along barefooted oyer the cool, 
shady pavements. 

" It feels first-rate,” said he, after a little. " Take 
yours off, Marian.” 

So Marian, whose feet were aching too, pulled off 
her shoes and stockings. At first the novelty of 
going barefooted pleased her, but pretty soon her 
tender little toes would stub, and the sharp gravel 
began to hurt her so that she was ready to cry. 
Then they came to a square with a fountain, and a 
great basin with steps going down to it. 

" I know this place,” said Marian. " It is where 
people come to wish themselves back before they go 
away from Kome. We ’re not far from home, now, if 
we only knew the way. Let us stop and bathe our 
feet here, and maybe some Americans will come 
along, and we can ask them.” 

So the little folks put their shoes and stockings on 
the top step, and went down and put their feet into 
the water. It was the Fountain of Trevi, but, with 
all its luck-giving qualities, it seemed to be a rather 
unlucky place for the children. For, in an ecstasy of 
splashing, when Marian had kicked the water into a 
perfect froth, her feet slipped on the slimy step, and 
6 


82 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


down she went into the basin. It was n’t very deep, 
and she soon scrambled out, dripping from head to 
foot, her clothes clinging to her in a most un- 
comfortable way; and her new Roman sash, limp 
and untied, was anything but a glory to her now. 

Harry lifted up his voice and howled till a crowd 
began to gather around, and Marian, sore at heart 
and uncomfortable of body, felt as if life was a very 
hollow mockery indeed. The crowd that gathered 
began to talk as fast as ever they could and as loud 
as ever they could, asking Marian all kinds of ques- 
tions, and when she didn’t understand their lan- 
guage, asking them the louder, as if the little one 
was deaf. 

" Oh,” sobbed Marian, " this is dreadful ! I ’ll 
never follow an organ again, — never. O Uncle 
Will! Uncle Will! where are you? Won’t you 
come to your poor little Marian ? ” 

And while all this was going on we had missed 
our little folks, and had started out to find them, 
Mr. Ludlow taking the streets on one side of the 
hotel, and I on the other. My way led me by the 
Fountain of Trevi, and the street was so narrow there, 
and the crowd so dense, that I could hardly get along 
with the carriage I had taken. We had to stop two 


STILL IN ROME . 


83 


or three times, and the coachman felt obliged to do a 
good deal of swearing and shouting and gesticulating 
to make the crowd separate for us to pass. At last 
a passageway was made, and it was just as we were 
driving off that I heard that dear, sweet little voice 
I knew so well crying out, "Won’t you come to your 
poor little Marian ? ” 

How I bounded out of the carriage and separated 
that crowd, and flew down the steps and caught up 
our darling, all wet and dripping as she was, and 
how she nestled her head upon my shoulder and 
sobbed softly there, so pitifully that the tears came 
into my own eyes, and I could hardly see to pick up 
Harry, though I could hear him well enough, for he 
raised his voice aa^. spared not, I can assure you ! 
Of course the shoes and stockings had disappeared, 
and as we drove away I saw a peasant boy fishing in 
the fountain’s basin for Marian’s hat. I don’t know 
whether he got it prrnot, but I do know that the les- 
son Marian leaned- that day was worth the loss of a 
hundred hats. 

Aunt Elinor and Mrs. Ludlow were at the door to 
receive us. They had been crying, but they smiled 
through their tears when they saw our little bare- 
footed runaways ; and it was no punishment to either 


84 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Marian or Harry that they had to go straight off to 
bed, for they were fairly tired out. 

The next morning was chilly and cold, and we had 
a fire on the hearth. In came Marian and Harry to 
breakfast, as bright and happy as if they had for- 
gotten all about their trials of the day before. But 
they had n’t ; for they, brought in a basket of little 
boats between them, and began laying them on the 
coals. There were little boats with sails and little 
boats without sails, and boats painted and boats un- 
painted ; there were mere chips of skiffs, and there 
were gondolas that had exhausted the contents of my 
inkstand to make them black like the real gondolas. 
One by one they were thrown into the fire, and when 
the last was in ashes Marian came running to me 
and said, " Now kiss me, Uncle Will ; we ’ye burnt 
up the navy, and we ’re not going to play in the foun- 
tains any more. We don’t like them at all ; and as 
for hand-orgaus and monkeys, I never want to see 
one again, never ! ” 

When we were finishing breakfast Marian looked 
up and asked, as she asked every morning, " What 
are we going to do to-day, Uncle Will? ” 

" To-day, my pet, we ’re going to visit a lion.” 

" A what ? ” 


STILL IN ROME . 


85 


" A lion.” 

"O Uncle Will! you’re joking.” 

"No, I’m in earnest. We’re going to visit the 
Lion of Magenta, in other words, we ’re going to see 
General Garabaldi.” 

" Oh ! that ’s different. A man is n’t a lion.” 

" But they call this man a lion because he is so 
brave.” 

"Tell us all about him,” said Marian. 

So I told them, first about the little Italian boy 
baby that was born at Nice about seventy years ago, 
and how his parents thought it a very lucky thing 
that he should have been born on our national birth- 
day, the Fourth of July. I told them all I had ever 
heard of Guiseppe’s boyhood; how he had always 
been a leader among his playmates, and even when 
a mere child had performed many feats of valor; 
how once, when the family washerwoman, who was 
scrubbing clothes at the river, had fallen in, the little 
Guiseppe had rescued her at the risk of his own life, 
and had been publicly commended for his presence 
of mind. I told them how he entered the service of 
his country, and fought bravely in many a battle, 
until he became the idol of the people, and a general 
among his soldiers, and how at last, when Borne 


86 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


came to strike a blow for liberty, General Gari- 
baldi’s voice was loudest and his arm strongest for 
the precious cause. I told them how he marched 
victorious at the head of the Italian troops when 
they entered Rome, and how the people hailed him 
as the savior of their liberties, and showered flow- 
ers upon him until his horse stood ankle-deep in 
them ; how he came to be the friend of the king, 
and how now he had come to Rome to live as the 
most honored citizen in the famous city ; and I said, 
"To-day we’ll go and see this great man, and 
Marian shall wear her sash of Italian colors, and 
Aunt Elinor and I will take a bouquet of flowers for 
the veteran.” 

So we started out in high feather for the villa 
of General Garibaldi, which is just beside the mili- 
tary parade-ground, and outside the walls of Rome. 
The country was very beautiful that day ; the grass 
very green, the sky very blue, and the flowers very 
bright. 

After half an hour’s drive we came to a modest 
villa surrounded by a pretty garden, and inside the 
court-yard we found several carriages waiting, for 
the general has a great many visitors. 

We rung the bell of the house, and it was opened 


STILL IN ROME. 


87 


by a fat, red-faced man in a cook’s cap and apron. 
In fact, he was the cook and the footman and the 
general’s valet and housekeeper, all rolled into one, 
— an old servant who has been long with Garibaldi, 
and assumes a great many privileges in consequence. 

" Can we see General Garibaldi ? ” I asked. 

"No, monsieur,” he answered. "The general is 
much engaged at present.” 

"But,” I said, "we have letters of introduction 
from some of the goneral’s friends in America, and 
were bidden to come any forenoon that suited us.” 

"It makes no difference,” said the cook. 

"The least you can do,” I said, "is to take my 
card to the general, and ask him when he will 
receive us.” 

" I could n’t even do that.” 

Now, you see, I had heard of this old cook before. 
I knew very well what he wanted, so I took out a 
five-franc piece and handing it with my card, said, 
"I ’ll leave the card for the general, and this is for 
detaining you so long here,” and we turned to go. 

" Stay, monsieur ! If monsieur and madame 
choose to wait a few moments, — only a very few 
moments, — I think the general will be at leisure. 
Will the party have the kindness to walk up stairs? 


88 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


What lovely children ! American children are always 
so lovely. The general adores children ! ” And the 
servant led the way up stairs. 

" What made him change so ? ” asked Marian. 

" Money, my darling. Money makes men change 
very often.” 

He took us to a little reception-room, very sparsely 
furnished, and bade us wait while he carried our 
card to the general. Pretty soon he came back, and 
said the general wished to see us at once, and in we 
went. 

Seated at the end of a dining-table was General 
Garibaldi. He rose with some difficulty to welcome 
us, for he was very much drawn up by rheumatism, 
and could n’t walk without the aid of a crutch. He 
was dressed just as we always see him in his 
pictures, — a red flannel shirt, an embroidered smok- 
ing-cap, and gray trousers. We had letters from 
two of his old generals, and we were received very 
warmly. Beside him stood an immense black shaggy 
dog, upon whose head he often rested his hand as he 
spoke. We had a very pleasant talk with the great 
Italian, but it did n’t interest Harry and Marian 
much, because, you see, they did n’t care about 
Italian politics or the improvements in Rome. 


STILL IN TOME. 


89 


They went to the open window and looked out 
into the garden, where were four or five children, 
relations and neighbors of General Garibaldi. 
Pretty soon I heard Marian cry out, "Toss it up 
here ! ” and she had hardly gotten the words out of 
her mouth before a great rubber ball came flying 
into the room. 

" Halloo ! ” said the general. " It is like old 
times, throwing balls into my window. We must 
defend ourselves.” 

Going to the sideboard he brought a huge dish 
of oranges and said, " There ’s ammunition. Fire 
back ! ” 

And the way in which Marian and Harry pelted 
the young folks in the garden with the golden fruit 
made things lively, I can assure you. When the 
ammunition was all exhausted our little folks had to 
go down and help the general’s little folks eat up 
the cannon-balls. And when we were ready to go 
they had all become so friendly down below that 
with joined hands they were going round in a ring 
to the Italian version of " On the carpet here we 
stand.” 

They all kissed each other good-by with sweet, 
childlike earnestness, and Marian carries, among her 


90 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


most precious souvenirs, the picture of the patriot, 
under which he wrote, with his trembling hand, the 
magic signature, 



THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER. 91 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER. 



Y PRECIOUS LULU: — 


-LY-L "We Te in Rome, where the beautiful 
Roman sashes come from, and where we Ve had a 
very good time. I ’ve had some very pretty Roman 
sashes, and the prettiest one I spoiled by getting it 
wet. There are beautiful fountains here in Rome ; 
but if you ever come here, you’d better not wade in 
them, for the shores are very slippery. We have a 
little boy in our party, named Harry Ludlow. He 
is very amusing, but being only five, is a great care 
to me. 

"We go every day to see ruins, and the one we 
like best is the Coliseum. It is a splendid place for 
playing hide-and-seek. It was once a circus, where 
they used to have horse-races and man-fights, and 
keep a great many very savage lions and tigers, and 
other wild animals. They used to feed them with 
Christians. Your father will tell you all about it. 


92 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


We had a game down there, Harry and I. We 
made a lot of men of figs and raisins and wire ; a 
raisin pinched up for the head, a fig for the body, and 
raisins strung on wires for the legs and arms. We 
took them down to the Coliseum with us, and set 
them up near the old lion-cages, and then Harry and 
I went into the cages to spring out on to them and eat 
them up. We should have had a great time, but 
some little dirty Italian boys, who were watching us, 
pounced on to the Christians first, and ran away with 
them, up among the arches, and stood there and 
made faces at us, with the legs and the arms of our 
Christians sticking out of their mouths. Harry 
cried, and I laughed at him, and told him he was no 
kind of a lion to cry like that. He said he was n’t 
crying, he was only roaring. 

"Every day, nearly, we go to drive to Monte 
Pincio, which is a park on a high hill, where a band 
plays every fine day. A few days ago we were 
there, and a beautiful carriage came driving up, and 
stopped right beside ours. The coachman and the 
footman both had on long red coats, that reached 
most to their feet, and had ever so much gold-lace 
on their hats. There was a very nice lady in the car- 
riage, and a lovely little boy about four years old. 


THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER. 93 


I held up my doll for him to look at it, and he wanted 
to take it. I asked Aunt Elinor to let me get out 
and walk a little, and I ran up to the carriage and 
handed it to him. He was as pleased as Punch, and 
the lady looked pleased, too, and thanked me in 
Italian, and then spoke to me in French, and asked 
me if I was an English girl. I told her I was an 
American, and then I wanted my doll again. The 
little boy did n’t want to give it up, but his mother 
made him, and then I started to go back to our car- 
riage. And what do you think, Lulu ? The beau- 
tiful lady said something to the red footman, and he 
took me up and carried me back to Aunt Elinor, and 
all the people stared at us as if we had been princes, 
at the very least. 

" Afterwards we drove off ; and I bowed to the lit- 
tle boy, and he pulled a camellia out of his mother’s 
bouquet, and threw it into our carriage, and threw a 
kiss after it with his pretty little chubby hand, and 
his mamma bowed, and the people stared the harder ; 
and when we were well out of hearing Aunt Elinor 
asked our coachman who it was. He said, looking 
very proud, — 

"'It was our Princess Margherita and the little 
Prince Royal.’ 


94 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


"We met them again the next day, and I did n’t 
dare hardly to look up ; but I did. And the little 
sweet dumpling of a Prince took off his hat and 
bowed beautifully, and his mother bowed, and it 
was lovely. 

" And, Lulu, we ’ve seen such a funeral ! The 
Princess Bonbonia died the other day, and as she 
was a very rich princess, and a very good princess, 
and left ever so much money to pay for her funeral, 
they had a splendid one. It was in the night, 
and the procession was more than two miles long. 
There were carriages by the hundred, and there 
were priests and monks, which are men that wear 
dresses like women, and go barefooted, and shave 
their heads, and try to keep good by shutting them- 
selves up away from all the wickedness they can. 
There were thousands of little children from the 
charity schools, and there were lots of regular 
funeral men, who wear long gowns with hoods that 
cover their whole heads, all but a place for the eyes. 
Everybody carried a lighted candle, and the grease 
was dripping everywhere. It was very much like a 
torch-light procession. We got a good many ideas 
from seeing it, and Harry and I had a funeral a few 
days after, which I ’ll tell you about. 


THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER. 95 

" When we were waiting for a train at Calais, I 
found a cocoon in the hotel garden, and we brought 
it with us to Rome ; and we bought a plant, and put 
the cocoon under the leaves in the window; one 
morning it was broken open, and there was a lovely 
yellow and black butterfly fluttering over it. We 
called him Gold-wing, and kept him ever so 
many days ; and every night I would put him to 
bed on a rose-bud, and he would n’t move till the 
next day. 

" One morning I went to look for him, and he was 
lying dead on a breakfast-plate, his beautiful wings 
folded up, and his head drawn down on his velvet 
breast, and his powdered legs all kind of tangled up. 
I burst out crying, and should have cried a good 
while, only Harry came in and jumped right up and 
down with joy, and said, — 

" 'Now, Marian, we ’ve got something dead ! We 
can have a funeral ! ’ 

"I was glad to have the funeral, but I was so 
sorry for Goldy ! I don’t think, Lulu, that boys are 
as feeling as girls. But the funeral was very consol- 
ing, so we took our beautiful dead Gold-wing to get 
him ready. Harry brought a pill-box to put him in, 
but I would n’t have it. I said, ' No, Harry, my 


96 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


beautiful Gold-wing shall never be buried in a pill- 
box.’ And I took a little gilt candy-box that I had, 
and we put our precious pet in that, and laid a rose- 
leaf under him, and covered him with a pansy, and 
put a primrose under his pretty head. He looked 
so sweet that I could n’t help crying again. Then 
we put a sheet over each of our heads, and took a 
chamber candle, and marched very solemnly into 
the hotel-garden, and laid Goldy under an ole- 
ander-bush, in a hole which we dug with a tea- 
spoon. I cried, of course, and just after we ’d got 
Goldy in, Harry broke out as loud as he could cry. 
I said, — 

" * Never mind, Harry, we ’ve buried Goldy in 
good style, and we can’t do any more. After all, he 
was only a butterfly.’ 

" I don’t care anything about your old butterfly,’ 
said Harry. ' I ’ve burned my fingers with the can- 
dle!’ 

"Boys are so heartless, Lulu. I felt like slapping 
him. But Harry is young, and can’t be expected 
to behave. I can forgive him for not caring for the 
butterfly, but he went and dug up the candy-box 
afterwards, and won’t tell me what he did with Goldy ; 
that I can’t forgive him for. 


THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER, 97 


" Now I must close, Lulu, because Uncle Will is 
tired of writing for me. Only I forgot to tell you 
that Harry and I have each had a present of a pair 
of roller skates from an American gentleman who 
deals in them, and who is at our hotel. We ’re get- 
ting on splendidly. Harry rolled himself down the 
hotel stairs yesterday, and cut his lip ; and my head 
is pretty bumpy, but they ’re all under my hair, and 
don’t show. Good by, Lulu. 

" From your loving 

“MARIAN.” 


The parlor skates afforded great pleasure to both 
Harry and Marian, and they learned after a while to 
get round very well on them ; but there was a time 
when we wished that the children had never had 
them, and I ’ll tell you about it. 

We used to go very often to the Quirinal Pal- 
ace, where the king lives, and where Aunt Elinor 
was copying some designs from the beautiful porce- 
lain there. 

Marian and Harry used to go with us, and wander 
about by themselves, under a solemn promise that 
they wouldn’t touch anything. They were very 
good, and kept their word, and the custodians, or 
7 


98 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


servants, came to know the little ones, and to be- 
come rather fond of them. 

But one day they lost their good name, and 
brought us all to shame. 

Aunt Elinor and I were in a little cabinet that 
opens out of the great banqueting-hall, and Harry 
and Marian had left us to count the figures in the 
inlaid floor of that magnificent apartment. Pretty 
soon Aunt Elinor looked up and said, " Will, what 
is that noise ? ” 

"It sounds,” I said, " like something rolling.” 

"Moving something about on casters, I guess,” 
remarked Aunt Elinor. 

"Well, they’re a long while about it, for I have 
heard it for the last ten minutes.” 

" Bearranging the furniture, perhaps,” I suggested, 
and went to look. 

There, on the polished floor, so smooth that it 
looked like glass, were Miss Marian and Master 
Harry, gliding about like fairies on a frozen lake. 
And just as I entered, a fat, red-faced, puffy custo- 
dian, in a scarlet coat, came strutting in. He stood 
for a moment in amazement ! Who was it dared to 
skate in the king’s palace ? Such a thing had never 
been heard of, in Borne or anywhere else ! He was 


THE DEAR CHILD WRITES A LETTER. 99 


fairly staggered for a few seconds ; but he soon re- 
covered himself sufficiently to start for the little folks. 

My, he could n’t catch them ! He slipped and 
floundered on the wax floor, and finally came down 
with a great bump that fairly made the chandeliers 
jingle. 

By this time, two more red-coated servants had 
come in, and they soon had the little folks caught, 
and were dragging them off somewhere or other, 
when I interposed. 

Of course no explanations of mine would satisfy 
them, and we had, all of us, to go before a police 
justice, and I don’t know what would have hap- 
pened but for an Italian friend who had great in- 
fluence with the chamberlain of the palace, and who 
secured our release. 

We went home very crestfallen, I can tell you, 
and I overheard Harry whisper to Marian, as we 
went along, — 

" It is all your fault, Marian ! You would take 
the skates ! If you ’d have only taken my ten-pins, 
as I wanted you to, we would n’t have got into 
trouble.” 

So, after all, we had only escaped ten-pins to be 
wrecked on parlor skates ! 

LOFCi 


100 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


And one was as bad as the other, as either would 
have led to losing the privilege of visiting the 
palace; and as it was, Aunt Elinor’s unfinished 
studies of porcelain are a souvenir of the day when 
Marian skated in the king’s house. 















■ 








































































































THE CITY OF THE SEA. 


101 


CHAPTER VIII. 


THE CITY OF THE SEA. 



Y ! ” said Marian, when we arrived in Ven- 


this is a funny place. All the streets 


are rivers, and all the people who ride in carriages 
go in boats ! ” And she lay back upon the capacious 
cushions of the gondola, and after thinking very 
deeply for a while, asked if somebody would n’t 
pinch her a little, "Just to make me sure I’m not 
dreaming,” she said. 

No wonder the dear child thought she was dream- 
ing, for nowhere else on the face of the earth is a 
city like Venice. All in and out among the houses 
are wide canals, and people go about their daily 
business and pleasures, not in cabs or coaches, but 
in long black boats, with little " cubby-holes ” of 
cabins, and a man standing up behind to row them. 
There is no sound of traffic, no hum of voices, no 
clattering of hoofs, no songs of birds, — only the 


102 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


hardly audible murmur of the coming and going 
tides, and the dip and drip of oars. 

Thers are some streets with shops, but they are so 
narrow and so gloomy that nobody wants to go into 
them, and there is one great broad square, where the 
people love to idle away the time when they ’re not 
in the gondolas. There are old palaces rising 
straight out of the water, and churches all ablaze 
with mosaics and gilding and painting and many- 
colored marbles. But I won’t tell you any more 
about Yenice, except such things as connect them- 
selves with Marian’s stay there, for you can find long 
descriptions in guide-books and encyclopaedias. 

The great Square of St. Mark’s was Marian’s favor- 
ite play-place in Yenice. Such a place for games ! 
Not the least danger from horses, because, you see, 
there is only one horse in Yenice, and they keep that 
one in the Zoological Garden, for a curiosity. Then 
the doves ! such flocks of them as are there ! There 
are demure purple doves, and pure white doves, and 
mottled doves. They brood over the old city and 
coo in the shadows of the palaces, and every day, at 
an appointed hour, come by thousands to the great 
square to be fed from the city’s bounty. 

We used to take our dinner every day in a restau- 


THE CITY OF THE SEA. 


103 


rant that looked out upon the square, and the doves 
would come to the window to be fed, and take 
crumbs from Marian’s hand. There was one dove 
smaller than the rest, a poor little cripple of a 
fellow, who had lost a leg, and hopped about on one 
foot in a way that would have been funny if it 
had n’t been pitiful. He was Marian’s special pet, 
and she named him Bobby, because he bobbed about 
so in trying to walk. He became so tame that 
Marian could take him in her hands, and he would 
nestle down close to her, in a confiding way that was 
lovely. Bobby wore a lovely mauve suit with 
trimmings of silver white, and had a soft, plaintive 
coo that was most bewitching. Marian carried a bit 
of white ribbon to the restaurant, and tied it about 
his neck like a little cravat, and we fancied that 
Bobby held up his head more proudly afterwards. 
Every day the dove and Marian became better 
friends. Sometimes he would fly down to her when 
she was walking in the square, and she would feed 
him with grains of rice, or, holding him to her 
bosom, would talk to him in the most confidential 
way, and he would coo and coo as if he understood 
it all. Marian thought he did; and as we didn’t 
know he didn’t, neither Aunt Elinor nor I ever 
contradicted her. 


104 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Harry looked upon Bobby with contempt. 

"If you ’re going to have a pet dove, Marian,’’ he 
said, "why don’t you have a whole one? Or why 
don’t you make him a wooden leg, so he won’t go 
pegging around so funny ? ” 

He even went so far as to volunteer to make a 
wooden leg, and did make one of a match, and would 
have tied it on to poor Bobby’s stump, but that Mar- 
ian rebelled. 

When the proprietor of the hotel found how fond 
Marian was of doves, he took her up on the roof to 
show her some nests there. We went up with her, 
and there, under a wide stone coping, was a long row 
of nests, and in more than one were little doves ; 
very hungry and very ugly looking little wretches. 

Pretty soon we heard an exclamation from Marian, 
" O my, my ! here ’s Bobby ! ” 

And, sure enough, there was Bobby, sitting com- 
posedly among a brood of young doves, and cooing 
to them so softly that nobody could ever doubt that 
Bobby wasn’t a mother-dove, singing a mother- 
song. 

" My ! ” said Marian ; " only think ! I called him 
Bobby when she ’s a mother-bird. What shall I call 
her now ? ” 


THE CITY OF THE SEA . 


105 


"Peggy,” says Harry. " Call her Peggy, because 
she pegs about so* funny.” 

" No, I will not, Harry. And she ’s lovely, and 
she don’t peg around ; and what do you think would 
have become of those young doves’ eyes, if I ’d have 
let you fasten on a wooden leg ? Harry, you ’re a 
boy, and you ’ve no sense or feeling ! Boys never 
have ! ” 

But Marian was mistaken about Harry not having 
any feeling, for she had hardly spoken the words 
when Master Ludlow composedly sat himself down 
on a wasp, and immediately felt very unpleasantly in 
consequence. 

It was on the evening of that same day that Marian 
had a curious waking dream that made her feel more 
than ever that she was in an enchanted city. We 
knew, Aunt Elinor and I, that there was to be a 
grand fete in Venice that night, but we simply told 
Marian that we would take her out to see the canals 
by moonlight. She and Harry went to lie down 
directly after dinner and have a nap, so that they 
would be prepared for the excursion. We dined at 
five, and by half past six our little ones were asleep. 
We were to go out on the canal at nine, and when 
the gondola came for us Marian was still sleeping. 


106 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


I wrapped her in a shawl, and, taking her up gen- 
tly, put her under the awning of the gondola with- 
out waking her. Then we glided out of the narrow, 
dark canal where the hotel was, into the Grand Canal, 
which was all ablaze with light and all alive with 
gayety. Just as we came opposite the king’s palace, 
there was a discharge of cannon which wakened 
Marian. She looked about her in wonder, but hardly 
spoke a word, while we mixed with the drifting fleet 
of boats that floated past the illuminated ships and 
palaces and churches. It was midnight when we re- 
turned to the hotel, and Marian had fallen asleep 
again, so I laid her on her bed without undressing 
her, and it was broad daylight before I heard her cry- 
ing out, ”0 Uncle Will, I’ve slept all night, and 
you promised to take me to see the canals by moon- 
light ! But I ’ve had such a dream ! ” 

" What was it, little one ? ” 

"Oh, I dreamed that I was in the top of the high 
bell-tower, the campanile , you know, looking for 
doves’ nests, and it was so dark that I could n’t find 
any, and I felt about for the door, and at last found 
it, and started to go, when the door slammed to with 
a bang like a cannon, and the campanile trembled, 
and down it went all in a heap, and I with it, and 


THE CITY OF THE SEA . 


107 


when I got to the bottom I was in a gondola, and 
you were there, and Aunt Elinor and Harry and 
Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow, and we were out on the 
Grand Canal. There were ever and ever so many 
ships, all hung with red and blue and green and yel- 
low lanterns, and shooting out fire-works from their 
sides ; and there were gondolas all about, each one 
with a light that looked like a big fire-fly, and there 
were great barges hung with flags and banners and 
lanterns, and within were bands of music, and sing- 
ing people, and they were all dressed up in fantastic 
clothes. And all up and down the canal the houses 
were hung with lanterns, and the Rialto [the great 
bridge of Venice] was all blazing with lights that 
changed from one color to another. 

" There was one bark that looked like gold, with 
a canopy of silk, under which I saw a very fat man 
and a very beautiful lady sitting, and the people 
all cheered when they passed by. And I asked you 
who they were, and you told me they were the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, — Queen Victoria’s 
eldest son and his wife. And so we floated about, 
and Harry behaved beautifully, which was a wonder, 
and at last I grew sleepy again from seeing so much, 
and in a minute was on top of St. Mark’s Church, 


108 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


where the four bronze horses are ; and I was on one, 
and Harry on one, and you and Aunt Elinor each on 
one, and we were riding in the air, and having a be- 
yew-ti-ful time. And that is all I can remember.” 

" O Marian ! ” said Aunt Elinor, laughing, " it was 
not all a dream, for we did take you out, and you 
saw most all the things you ’ve told us about. It 
was all real from the time the campanile fell down 
till you were riding on the bronze horses.” 

Marian looked incredulous and said, "How funny ! 
I thought it must be a dream, it was all so beautiful 
and strange — and — ” 

"And what, Marian?” 

" And Harry — behaved so beautifully.” 

The pigeon that I’ve spoken of was not Mar- 
ian’s only pet in Venice. In a tiny cage, not 
more than three inches high, and made of fine wfire 
gauze, she had another pet. It was a cricket, a lit- 
tle black cricket, that sung and sung, until some- 
times he made us all nervous, and had to be put 
away in the dark of a bureau-drawer. This was the 
gift of a friend of Marian’s, a little Italian peasant 
named Pietro. 

Shall I tell you about Pietro ? It is a sweet, sad 
story, and the tears come in Marian’s eyes when she 


THE CITY OF THE SEA. 


109 


speaks of Pietro now. One day we were sitting on 
the balcony that overlooks the garden of the hotel, 
and we heard coming from among the oleander-trees 
that were blooming there the plaintive notes of a 
shepherd’s pipe. They were very feeble notes and 
very simple notes, but had a touching, sympathetic 
quality that held our attention very closely. 

We looked over, and there was a little boy, not 
more than seven or eight years old, and small for that 
age. He was dressed in the pretty costume of the 
Savoyards, — a conical hat with a band of bright rib- 
bon, a much-worn hat, and somewhat ragged at the 
edges ; a coarse linen shirt, open at the neck, and 
with the collar gracefully thrown back over the 
shoulders ; a pair of goat-skin trousers, that only 
came to the bare knees, completed the dress of the 
little musician, who also wore one of those coarse 
earthen water-bottles, such as the shepherds carry into 
the fields, and which was slung over the shoulder with 
a piece of bright-colored cord. 

As we looked down the little fellow looked up, 
and I have never elsewhere seen such eyes, — great 
brown eyes, in which all the shadows of the garden 
seemed reflected. They had a tired, sad, beseeching 
look that went straight to our hearts ; and we felt that 


110 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


in throwing down a few copper coins we had only 
half answered their quest, for they seemed to ask for 
sympathy and love. When the lad had gathered up 
the coins he began to play again, and tried to play a 
gayer tune than he had played before, but pretty soon 
there crept among the notes a sad minor strain, which 
was followed by another and another, until the play- 
ing was like the moan of a tired child who has no one 
to comfort it. 

We thought the boy looked as if he might be hun- 
gry, and Marian shared her luncheon of bread and 
honey with him, for which he seemed more grateful 
than for the money we had given. 

When he went away he kissed his hand to us, and 
we noticed that it was a poor, thin little hand, that 
seemed to tremble with emotion as he lifted it. 

The next day he came again, and we thought 
him sadder than before. He brought a little bunch 
of wild white flowers for Marian, and offered them 
tremblingly, as if perhaps his generous impulse 
might be taken as too great a liberty; and he 
looked so pleased at Marian’s delight that, for a 
moment, his eyes seemed to reflect something of 
the sunshine of the garden as well as its shadows. 

Every day after that he came at about the same 


THE CITY OF THE SEA. 


Ill 


hour, and every day we went out upon the balcony 
when we heard his music. 

After a while I ventured, in my poor Italian, to 
ask him something about himself. Had he a father 
and mother? He shook his head mournfully. Was 
he well and happy? He laid his little hand upon 
his heart, and said he had much pain there. 
Where was his home? "Anywhere,” he said. "Un- 
der the bridges, in the shadows of the arches, any- 
where.” Then one of the hotel servants came and 
helped us with our inquiries. The little fellow said 
that he came to Venice a few months before with 
his mother. That she had left him, and gone he 
knew not where. He was ill, he said, and had 
been once in the hospital, where the good sisters 
nurse, but when he was better he had been obliged 
to leave, and try and earn his living with his flage- 
olet. He told the waiter he had heard that many 
people who went across the canal to the Church of 
St. Maria della Salute, and prayed there, were 
cured of their pains, and that, on the morrow, he 
was going, and hoped soon to be better, for all the 
time now he had such a pain in his heart that he 
could hardly walk about, and sometimes had to lie 
down under the arches and rest. 


112 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


The next day he did not come, and we knew he 
had gone to the church to pray. 

Another day and he did not come, but another 
lad came from the hospital, and brought from little 
Pietro the cricket in the cage. lie said that Pietro 
sent it " to the fair-haired little American who had 
been so good and spoken so kindly to him,” and 
that he had sent word that he hoped to be better to- 
morrow, and would come again and play for us. 

But he did not come, and so Aunt Elinor and 
Marian took some flowers and some dainties, and we 
went to the hospital to find him. W e did not know his 
name, but the sister of charity in charge said that we 
might look about among the patients till we found the 
little one we wanted. Up one ward and down an- 
other we went, but we did not find Pietro anywhere. 

"He must have gone again,” said Aunt Elinor. 

"There is one more room,” replied the sister of 
charity, and she took us into a small room on the 
sunny side of the house, where the windows were 
open, and the sweet sea-breeze came in softly with 
the sunbeams. It was a very still room. There 
was no sound there, — no sighing, no crying out 
with pain. There were only a few beds, and all the 
patients seemed asleep, they were lying so still. 


THE CITY OF THE SEA. 


113 


There were flowers on some of the tables beside the 
beds, but the patients couldn’t see them there, for 
their faces were covered with white cloths. 

Upon one of the beds was a child’s form, and the 
good sister uncovered the face. It was little Pietro, 
— past all pain now, or thought of pain, for he 
was dead. The sad, sweet eyes were closed, the 
tired look was gone, and a smile had come upon the 
pale lips. He had gone to the church and prayed to 
be better, — and he was better ; as much better as 
angels are better than men. 

We laid our offering of flowers on the pillow be- 
side his head, and put the fairest spray of white in 
his folded hands, so eloquent of rest. And we 
smoothed back the long, black hair, and Aunt 
Elinor kissed the poor little forehead, and then the 
good sister covered the face with the white cloth, 
and we went away and left Pietro sleeping there, in 
the bright room, where the sweet sea-breeze came in 
with the sunbeams, and where, perhaps, some angel 
stood unseen, to watch beside the resting dead. 

And Marian kept her little cricket for many 
months, and sometimes we thought we heard a 
strain of sadness mingle with its merry song, and 
remembered little Pietro, who had gone to "be 
better ” with God. 8 


114 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


CHAPTER IX. 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


ARIAN cried when she left Venice, and we 



-*-*-*- all had a deep sympathy with her tears. 
She cried for leaving the canals and the gondolas 
and Bobby, — for she still called the mother-bird 
Bobby, — and her only consolation was in taking 
Pietro’s cricket with her, and right lustily the little 
fellow chirped when we put him in a fresh leaf of 
lettuce to last him on his journey to Trieste. Harry 
had a few pets of a similar kind, but we were forced 
to leave them all behind. When he saw Marian’s 
interest in her cricket, he had taken to capturing 
beetles and cockroaches and even lizards, and to 
improvising dwellings for them out of all sorts of 
things. Great black bugs would suddenly appear 
when least expected from the depths of dressing- 
cases, hideous insects crawled around among the 
gloves and handkerchiefs of our boxes, inverted tea- 
cups were found to hide whole troops of water-bugs, 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


115 


and I really did think that Master Harry had carried 
matters too far, when, after vain struggles to see 
through my opera-glass, I unscrewed the big lens, 
and found inside a rousing brown beetle, who 
seemed quite delighted to be out again and quite 
surprised at finding himself in a crowded, brill- 
iantly lighted opera-house. 

Indeed, Harry did find the funniest places to put 
his bugs. Marian had a doll that had a hole in its 
poor china head, and one day when she was talking 
to it she was much surprised to have it answer back 
in a soft coo-cooing, very like a real baby. 

" My ! ” said she, " Wilhelmina is beginning to 
talk ! ” 

But when she took off the infant’s head it only 
proved to be a poor imprisoned bug, struggling and 
buzzing to get out. 

But good by, Venice, canals, doves, bugs, and 
all, — and hurrah for Trieste and Vienna ! Up in 
the morning at five, and at six we are hurrying 
along by the shores of the Adriatic, and at night we 
are in Trieste. 

And what a busy city it is ! Ships coming and 
going from every quarter of the world, and in the 
streets an ever-changing throng of hurrying men. 


116 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


There are Turks and Greeks in their scarlet caps, 
Jews in their long black gaberdines of which one 
reads in Shakespeare ; there are Hungarians, earnest, 
bearded, sharp-eyed men ; there are peasants from 
Illyria and Styria, in fancifully wrought costumes ; 
there are sailors from every clime ; and there are 
the prettiest women and children in the world. 

" Everybody seems to be hurrying,” said Marian. 
" It is just like America.” 

There was an American man-of-war in the harbor, 
and as the commander was an old friend of mine we 
had an invitation to go on board to luncheon. 

Now I can’t pretend to describe the vessel, be- 
cause I’m always turned about when I try to talk 
sailor-talk, and only know that the wind generally 
blows from the windward, and that it is n’t a correct 
thing, under any circumstances, to take a reef in the 
rudder ; but I can tell how our little lady was en- 
tertained and entertained herself, and perhaps that 
will be more interesting. 

The children never went anywhere without taking 
some playthings with them ; and so, when the ship’s 
boat came for us, and we took our seats facing the 
six sturdy tars that were to row us, Marian had a doll 
of colossal size, and over which she held her pretty 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


117 


pink parasol with great pride, and Harry had a figure 
of Punch which had a queer trick of opening a pro- 
digious mouth and swallowing, over and over, a dimin- 
utive pig, which came forth somewhere from the 
mysterious folds of his clothing. And the pig would 
squeal as he disappeared, and Punch would shut his 
mouth together with a very satisfied click, as much 
as to say, "I’ve done it once, and I’ll doit again 
presently, for I like it immensely.” 

When we got on board we were shown ever and 
ever so many guns, and ever and ever so much pol- 
ished brass, and the tidiest decks and cabins and 
bunks imaginable, and while we ate our luncheon a 
sailor band played some very good music for us, and 

after dinner, while our good friend Captain B 

and myself smoked a cigar, and Aunt Elinor and 

Mrs. Captain B talked the latest fashions, Marian 

and Harry were left to amuse themselves. Harry 
had brought a line, and so they thought they’d fish 
a little. The cook gave them some bait, and pres- 
ently they had their line in the water and waiting for 
bites. 

Sure enough they had one soon, and brought up a 
fine fellow of a fish, who wriggled and twisted in the 
sunlight, and showed a beautiful coat of blue and 


118 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


silver that was really quite dazzling. Then they 
dropped their line in again, and in a minute there was 
a nibble, and what do you think they caught? 

It pulled rather hard, but when it did come over 
the side of the ship there was a lovely box of bon- 
bons and a pretty carved ivory thimble-case for Mar- 
ian, and a ball for Harry. They were all tied in a 
parcel, and I can only account for this strange and 
delightful fish by the fact that the line went straight 
by one of the loop-holes of the officers’ quarters be- 
low, and that some kind hand had hitched it on as 
Harry pulled up. 

While still in the enjoyment of their new treasures, 
another man-of-war of another nationality hove in 
sight, and the captain took his glass and looked at 
her and said, — 

"Oh, yes, that’s her! I expected her. It’s a 
French ship, the Aurora . We ’re all ready to salute 
her ! ” 

Then there was a good deal of very orderly mak- 
ing ready ; a great brass cannon that was on the deck 
had its nozzle thrust out at the side, and a sailor 
stood by with a lighted slow-match to touch it off at 
the captain’s word. Marian had n’t noticed the prep- 
arations, or at least, hadn’t understood what they 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


119 


meant till this point ; and just as the captain said, 
" Ready ! Fire ! ” she gave a little scream and 
shouted, " Oh, don’t ! don’t ! My poor, precious 
doll ! ” 

" And my Punch ! ” cried Harry. 

"And my beautiful pink parasol!” said Marian, 
ready to cry. 

But even while they spoke, "Boom!” went the 
cannon, and there went flying out over the water a 
pretty pink parasol that opened itself proudly among 
the smoke; and there was a blond doll that shot 
out as far as it could towards the land, but finally 
dropped into the water ; and there was a pig-swal- 
lowing Punch that skipped along on the waves like 
a bird, and finally went down to swallow pigs at the 
bottom of the sea. 

And on deck there stood a little figure of a lovely 
little girl, upon whose cheeks were two great tears, 
and who said, half sobbing, — 

" O my poor Wilhelmina ! To think of her com- 
ing to such an end ! and it was all my fault, for I 
ought not to have put her in the gun. And my 
pink parasol was a present.” 

"Wasn’t it jolly, though, when it went off?” 
said Harry. " I ’d rather hear cannons than to 


120 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


have all the dolls and parasols and Punches in the 
world.” 

After a while we consoled Marian, who, it seems, 
at Harry’s instigation, had put her treasures into the 
cannon when they began fishing, and — the little 
rogue that he was ! — had watched all the prep- 
arations for firing, knowing they were there, and 
hadn’t said a word. 

The parasol and doll were replaced that very 
afternoon, and the same evening we started for 
Adelsberg to attend a fete that was to be holden in 
the most marvellous cave in the world. 

Adelsberg is not a large place, but it is a very 
pretty place, — a quiet, shady place, where the houses 
nestle close to the foot of the mountains, and the 
green fields stretch out beyond, across a wide valley. 
On the day of our arrival there were crowds of peo- 
ple in the town, and carriages were in such demand 
that we had to content ourselves with a farm-wagon 
to convey us to the hotel ; and when we came to the 
hotel we had chosen, there were no rooms for us. 
Then we had to go to another hotel, and then to an- 
other, and finally found two little rooms in an old 
inn kept by the burgomaster. 

The fete was to take place the next day, and we 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


121 


were wakened bright and early by the tramp of 
wooden shoes under our windows, for the peasants 
from all the country round were coming to town to 
dance at the " Grotto-ball.” By ten o’clock the streets 
were thronged, and more people coming. In the 
country lanes, little booths were erected, and in them 
were shows such as we see at an American cattle 
fair. Strolling musicians went from house to house, 
and more than one party stopped before our window, 
to Harry’s and Marian’s great delight. 

The fete in the cave did not begin until three in 
the afternoon, and by that hour there were at least 
fifteen thousand strangers in the town. We were 
among the first to reach the opening of the cave, and 
had some time to wait. 

The opening looked only like a cleft in the rock 
of the mountain-side, with a wooden railing built 
across it to keep the crowd from pouring in too 
rapidly. When the town clock struck three the 
gates were opened, and we were borne along by the 
crowd from the sunshine into the darkness. 

Down — down — down we went. There was a 
narrow path that was lighted on each side by little 
wicks floating in tumblers of oil. Beside the path 
there was a river that dashed over the rocks and 


122 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


made music as it went. Sometimes the path led by 
great depths in the rock where we could see no 
bottom, and only knew that there was a bottom to it 
by little lines of lamps far, far below. Marian 
whispered once or twice, "Uncle Will, I’m fright- 
ened.” 

" At what, dear? ” 

" At the darkness.” 

" Did the darkness ever hurt you ? ” 

"No, but it looks easy to be lost in.” 

" I ’m not afraid,” Harry would say bravely ; " but 
it looks as if it might be a good place for bears and 
snakes.” 

He said this to frighten Marian, knowing those 
creatures to be a terrible dread to our pet. 

After we were a little way inside the cave we bade 
farewell to the river that had kept us company, or 
rather it bade us good by and plunged into a great 
hole in the floor of the cavern, and wandered off 
somewhere into the side of the mountain. 

At last we were fairly inside the cave, and a great 
chamber in the rock opened before us. In it was a 
brilliant illumination of red and yellow and green 
and blue lamps. On one side there was a raised 
platform, and a band of music which played for a 


MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


123 


thousand or more people to dance. And how they 
did dance ! They danced till the perspiration rolled 
from their foreheads and they had to cool themselves 
off with huge glasses of beer. 

From this chamber we wandered into another and 
another, till I don’t dare to say how many we en- 
tered, or how vast and strange they all were. 
Great masses of rock hung from the ceiling like 
icicles, and great pillars of rock rose from the floor 
to meet them half-way. Some of these stalactites 
and stalagmites, for that is what they call them, 
were of the quaintest form. In one place they were 
like a huge curtain of alabaster, and so thin that you 
could see the lights from behind them shining 
through their substance. In one place the stalag- 
mites growing up from the floor had fashioned them- 
selves into something so like a pulpit that if I had 
been a minister I should have wanted to preach there. 

There was one end of a great hall that looked for 
all the world like a great white organ, and farther on 
we came into a hall with a roof so high that we 
could n’t see it, even when rockets were thrown up 
to light it. There was one place very gloomy and 
grand, where a hill seemed to rise out of an abyss 
below, and on the top were three columns of rock, 


124 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


a high one in the middle and a smaller one on each 
side. The guide called it Mount Calvary, because 
in the three columns there was a reminder of the 
three crosses that were erected when our Saviour 
was crucified. 

We walked several miles underground, and should 
have gone farther, only that Harry and Marian be- 
came tired. What a gloomy place it was, or would 
have been, but for the 20,000 lamps that gave us 
light ! Then, too, the guides would from time to 
time light red and blue and green fires that would 
change all the gloom into glowing color, and all the 
white columns into gems. We walked and walked, 
and looked on at the crowds till we were all tired 
out, and when we returned to the surface of the earth 
there was no longer any sunlight, but a bright star- 
light evening which we were too tired to enjoy, and 
so went straightway to the inn and to bed. 

The next day there was a continuance of the fete , 
but Aunt Elinor and I were so tired we did not go 
out to take part in it. Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow left us 
to go on to Vienna, and left Harry with us to be a 
companion for Marian, and to go on with us a day or 
two later. It was too bad to keep Marian and Harry 
in all that long forenoon, and as the street was less 
















MARIAN GOES BELOW. 


125 


crowded than the day before, we let them go out by 
themselves, on condition that they would not go 
across the street or off of it. They were gone all the 
forenoon, and we were sitting down to luncheon 
when they came in, looking very tired and dusty, and 
Harry had his cap in his hand, and was jingling some- 
thing in it in the most triumphant way. 

" Oh, we Ve had such a time ! ” said Marian ; " and 
I should never have thought of it but for Harry ! ” 

"Yes, we Ve done pretty well,” said Harry. " I Ve 
got about enough to buy a gun with.” 

What could they mean ? 

" You see,” said Marian, after she had somewhat 
recovered her breath, for they had evidently run all 
the way, and were both breathless, — "you see, Uncle 
Will, those singers seemed to be making so much 
money that we thought we ’d try it. Harry thought 
of it, and asked me if I could sing. I told him yes, 
and then he said if I ’d sing he ’d stand on his head, 
and go round and collect the money.” 

" O Marian ! ’ exclaimed Aunt Elinor, looking 
very vexed. 

" Yes,” continued Marian, heedlessly, "wasn’t it 
nice? So we went into the hotel court-yards, and I 
sang ' Shining Shore,’ and ' Out on an Ocean Sail- 


126 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


ing,’ and ' Mary had a Little Lamb,’ and Harry 
would stand on his head a few minutes, and then take 
his cap and go around and get the money. It was 
beautiful ! ” 

"And here’s the money,” chimed in Harry, as he 
emptied about half a pint of coppers on to the table ; 
" there ’s a lot of it, and if you ’ll let us we ’ll go right 
out again and get some more after dinner.” 

"What shall we do with these children, Will?” 
said Aunt Elinor. 

" Well, Elinor, I should think the first thing to do 
was to wash them.” 

"And what would Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow say if 
they knew their boy had gone into the acrobat busi- 
ness at a country fete ? ” 

"Just what we say, I suppose, when we find our 
little niece has gone into the street-singing business, 
— that she mustn’t, on any account, do it again.” 

" What ! are n’t we to go out again after more 
money ? ” said Marian. 

" Of course not,” said Aunt Elinor, sternly, " it 
is n’t a nice thing at all ! ” 

"Then I’m sorry we came in so soon,” said 
Harry. " There ’s only about two guldens ; and a 
gun such as I want costs three.” 


MARIAN GOES BELOW . 


127 


" Never mind,” said Marian ; " perhaps we can find 
a cheaper one in Vienna. Let us wait and buy it 
there.” 

" Let ’s ! ” said Harry ; and the gun question being 
thus disposed of, both children attacked their lunch- 
eon with a degree of heartiness that showed their 
performance of the morning to have been a very 
appetizing affair. 

"After all,” said Aunt Elinor, "no great harm is 
done, and I don’t think they’ll do it again; but, 
dear me ! I wonder what they ’ll do next.” 


128 


CHILD MARIA AT ABROAD. 


CHAPTER X 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA. 


HAT golden days they were, those early 



V V summer days in the Austrian capital, and 
what sights we saw, and what adventures we had, 
and how lively Marian grew in the bracing air, and 
how we loved her more and more and more as the 
weeks went on! Well, no, we didn’t mind her 
mischief very much, because, you see, she never 
meant to be mischievous, and that makes all the 
difference in the world. She generally thought she 
was doing right, and her little pranks were most 
always mere errors of judgment. She would never 
have cut off Harry’s long hair, but that she thought 
it would be more becoming and comfortable short. 
She would never, for mere mischief, have pinned 
red stripes on to the shoulders of my dress coat, 
and I wore them to a court reception and wasn’t 
aware they were there until a fellow-countryman 
asked me if they were a pair of young shoulder- 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA. 129 

straps. And I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm 
when she put a box of toilet powder into the hat 
of a distinguished United States officer who 
came to call on us, and he, poor man ! who 
was nothing if not dignified, and not much if he 
was, felt very angry when his red face and bald 
head and black coat received a shower of powder. 
We were very much mortified at this, and Aunt 
Elinor looked very severe, and said, "Marian, 
Marian, why did you do it? It was very naughty and 
thoughtless.” And the little lady replied that she had 
only hidden it there for a moment from Harry, and 
forgotten to take it out. "And,” she continued, "it 
did n’t hurt him a bit, and it was n’t half as bad as 
Harry did, for he stirred up our mucilage-pot with 
the old gentleman’s umbrella handle and did n’t wipe 
it off again. Harry was just going to wipe it off 
when he came out of the parlor so mad about the 
powder-box, and seized his umbrella right out of 
Harry’s hands, before we could tell him; and, oh 
my, did n’t it stick to his gloves ! ” 

Aunt Elinor groaned, and no wonder. 

And I ? I looked very stern, and said, " Children, 
I ’m surprised, when you know I charged you to be 
specially good while that gentleman was here.” 

9 


130 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


"Well,” said Marian, beginning to cry, "we tried 
to be good, and we went down into the court-yard 
to keep out of mischief, and his carriage was there, 
and we climbed in, and we should have stayed there 
till he come down, only the pins gave out.” 

" Pins ! What do you mean ? ” asked Aunt 
Elinor. 

" Oh, we had a paper of pins, and we stuck them 
all in carriage cushions, and spelt words with the 
heads. We wrote "old boy” with pins’ heads way 
across the front seat, and it looked so well we left it 
for him to see.” 

Aunt Elinor groaned again. 

" And we made a cat on the back seat, and then 
Harry made a fence all around her to keep her in, — 
a lovely fence. We lifted up the linen covering of 
the seat, and stuck the pins point upwards, and I 
do hope he noticed it before he sat down.” 

I didn’t wait to hear more, but I seized my hat 
and hurried off to the gentleman’s house, and found 
him looking very flushed and angry and as if he 
might be just on the point of striking our names off 
his visiting list. I did the best I could with an apol- 
ogy, but the old gentleman worked himself into a 
towering passion, and said, — 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA. 


131 


"It’s outrageous, sir, outrageous! I shall not be 
able to sit clown with comfort for a week.” 

I told Marian and Harry what he said, and both 
children looked very sorry, but surely did the best 
they knew how to mend the injury, for when a few 
days after I went to search for my court-plaster case, 
Marian looked guilty, and said very beseechingly, — 

" Oh, don’t be angry with me, dear Uncle Will ! 
I sent it to General , with such a nice note.” 

" Oh ! oh ! oh ! ” I groaned, and felt like tearing 
my hair. 

" Don’t feel so badly, dear Uncle Will. ’T was a 
very nice note. I have a copy of it here.” And she 
produced a letter that read as follows : — 

il Dear General : — 

" We are very sorry that you hurt yourself when 
you sat down. We send you some court-plaster and 
hope it will do you good. We did n’t mean to be 
outrajous and we did n’t think it was much trouble 
for you to get the powder out of your hair, because 
you have so little hair on top of your head and it 
will brush out of that little fringe round the edges 
easy enough. 

" Harry says he thinks your head very pretty be- 


132 CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 

hind, it looks just like a ostritches egg he saw in a 
museum. 

"Did you see what we wrote on your carridge 
cushing — while your cotchman was drinking beer 
with our porter? 

" Please send the pins back again when you get 
time.” 

" Don’t you think that is a pretty good note ? ” 

"Yes, Marian, it is well enough of itself, but you 
ought not to have done it. You are very naughty to 
do such things without asking leave.” 

"What can the man think?” said Aunt Elinor, 
hardly knowing whether to cry or laugh. 

" Oh,” I said, trying to comfort her, " he thinks the 
children wrote it, and I daresay had a good laugh 
over it.” 

" I don’t think he did,” said Marian. 

"Did what, Marian?” 

"Did think we wrote it,” said Marian. 

" Why not, dear ? ” 

"Because, Uncle Will, I thought he wouldn’t 
think it much account if he thought we wrote it, and 
so I signed Aunt Elinor’s name to it.” 

" How could you, how could you, Marian ? ” And 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA. 


133 


Aunt Elinor for a moment thought she would cry a 
little, and then she saw how funny it all was, and she 
laughed a little instead, and then it seemed rather 
awkward, and she turned to me and asked what she 
should do. 

"Do! Why, there is only one thing to do, and 
that is to go to the General and apologize ” ; which we 
proceeded to do forthwith, but not until Marian 
had promised never, while she was with us, to 
send another note without telling us about it, and 
never, never to put anybody’s but her own name to 
her letters. 

But Marian was not always getting into scrapes ; 
sometimes she would go on for whole weeks, and be 
only a delight to us. Almost every day we would 
take her to the Prater, the grandest of all pleasure 
parks. Sometimes it would be only for a drive 
through the Haujpt Allee , that long, straight road 
which for four miles stretches its wide carriage-way 
under noble trees ; trees so old that their branches 
meet across the way, and form a perfect arbor. 
But oftenest we would take the little folks to the 
Wurstel , or Sausage Prater, which is the special 
pleasure grounds for the lower classes and has a 
great array of booths and shows. There were shoot- 


134 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


ing-galleries, where Harry tried his skill more than 
once, and there were " round-abouts ” of wooden 
chariots and horses that made one dizzy to think 
of. There were Flea Theatres, where the little in- 
sects were tamed to draw the tiniest carriages and 
street-cars, and where they danced and fought like 
human beings. There were several very fat women 
and a number of ugly little dwarfs and stupid giants 
on exhibition, and Marian and Harry saw most of 
them and imitated as many as they could. But I 
have Marian’s permission to quote one of her letters 
to Lulu, and that will give you a better idea of her 
Vienna days than any description I can write. 

‘ ‘ My Dear Lulu : — 

" Here we are in Vienna, a very old city, where 
the streets are very zigzag except in the new parts 
of the town which is almost as handsome as Fifth 
Avenue in New York. Uncle Will thinks it is hand- 
some, but I don’t. 

"We’re having a great time here. There is a 
beautiful park called the Prater, and in it are a great 
many deer, which are called together and fed every 
afternoon. A man blows a horn and they all come. 
There are beautiful restaurants in the Prater, and 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA. 


135 


we often take our dinner there with a band of musi- 
cians playing at our elbow and people driving by in 
elegant carriages. I ’ve seen the Emperor and the 
Empress twice. We were taking dinner in the 
Prater one afternoon, and there dashed through the 
principal drive in front of us a company of soldiers 
on horseback, and as all the people looked the way 
from which they had come instead of after them, I 
knew there must be something else behind, and sure 
enough there came an elegant carriage drawn by 
six white horses, and on each horse a postilion in 
golden-yellow satin, and sitting back in the carriage 
was a small man, very plain-looking too, and they 
told us that was the Emperor. Then there was an- 
other carriage drawn by four brown horses, and in it 
the very be-yew-ti-fulest lady I ever saw. She had 
a pink parasol that looked just like the one of mine 
that was shot out off a cannon in Trieste, — just as 
that might have looked grown a little bigger. 

"She had soft brown hair, and such pretty lips 
and teeth. Oh, she was lovely ! She was dressed 
in white and pink to match her parasol, and she had 
a little dog beside her, that looked a good deal like 
the Emperor. I suppose that is why she had 
him. 


136 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" The second time we saw the Emperor and 
Empress was at the meeting-house, — the Stefans- 
Mrche they call it here. It was on some great occa- 
sion, when all the Emperor’s folks came out to 
church in their best clothes, and walked from the 
church door to the palace after the service was over. 
Of course everybody went to see them do it, and we 
went among the rest. We had a place on a plat- 
form just opposite the church door. There were a 
great many soldiers in front of us, and some of them 
were Hungarian noblemen who wore leopard-skin 
coats and rode on elegant white horses. The church 
was full of people, and when the services were over 
there was a great ringing of bells as if everybody 
was glad, and a procession began to form. There 
were soldiers by the thousand, with their uniforms 
and swords scoured up till they fairly made my eyes 
ache. Then there were bishops with great peaked 
hats on their heads, that made them look very top- 
heavy, for some of these hats, which are called 
mitres, seem to be covered with gold and are set all 
over with precious stones. Then there were ever 
and ever so many priests who wore underskirts of 
blue or scarlet or black, and overskirts of lace, 
and cloaks of gold cloth, and wore on their heads 


LOOKING ON IN VIENNA . 


137 


funny little hats like stew-pans without the handles. 
Then there were bands of music, and choirs of boys 
singing with all their might ; and towards the very 
last of it, was the Emperor, all hung over with gold 
and diamond stars and crosses, and the lovely 
Empress walking by his side. 

"And, Lulu, she had her crown on I 

" I was glad for once to see a crown that was n’t 
shut up in a glass case. And she had an elegant 
white dress of silk or satin almost covered with white 
lace, and she bowed every which way as she walked 
along. But she was gone by in a minute, and I was 
sorry when she was gone. That was a church fes- 
tival, and they call it Corpus Christi day, but we ’ve 
had a festival all our own, and we called ours Fourth 
of July. All the Americans in Vienna had a dinner 
in the Horticultural Hall, and there was ever so much 
speaking, all about the American flag, and the 
American eagle, and the army and navy, and there 
was music, our own music such as we have at home, 
and in the evening we had such fire-works ! 

" Harry and I got up a celebration of our own. 
We had it in the court-yard of our house, and had 
fire-crackers and torpedoes, and an American flag 
as big as a cradle-blanket, which Harry’s father 


138 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


brought oyer with him. We had quite a picnic 
among the shrubbery ; but the picnic, Lulu, was a 
failure. We had a large bowl of lemonade, and a 
real nice American custard pie, and candies and ice- 
cream. We set it out beautifully on a little table 
with a white cloth, and trimmed it about with leaves 
and ferns. I took Minnie, my kitten, and she had 
to go and have a dreadful fit and plumped right into 
the custard pie. I didn’t care for the pie, but I 
did pity the kitten, and I washed her nicely and 
made her a little bed under the table, and we had 
begun all over, when a great common shoemaker’s 
boy came to bring home some shoes for Uncle Will, 
and he had a big dog with him, and the dog flew at 
the poor cat, and worried her under the table, and 
finally she jumped on to the table and upset the 
lemonade, and I was dreadfully frightened and ran 
up stairs, and while I was gone that dreadful boy ate 
up the ice-cream and ran off with the candies. I like 
boys less and less every day. But we had a good time 
getting it ready, if we did n’t have it to eat. 

" And now, Lulu, Uncle Will is tired of writing 
for me. I ’ve a great deal to tell you yet, but we 
must wait till next time. 

" Affectionately, 


“ MARIAN. 1 


MARIAN PLA YS WITH A PRINCESS . 139 


CHAPTER XI. 

MARIAN PLAYS WITH A PRINCESS. 

I T was in Vienna that Marian played with the 
princess, and a glorious time they had of it. 

We went to see the Lichtenstein Gallery, in the 
great, imposing Lichtenstein Palace, that shows its 
front to a lovely, smiling flower-garden, and turns 
its back on a very pompous park. Jehu, that is 
what we always called the coachman, he pulled up 
with a great flourish of trumpets — that is to say, an 
immense crack of his whip — before the tall iron 
gates, and Marian and the rest of us got out. Then 
Jehu went away, with another crack of his whip, to 
doze in a beer-shop for a couple of hours while we 
strolled through the gardens and among the pictures. 
Whatever else a Vienna coachman does, he alway 
cracks his whip when he ’s driving, and always goes 
for his beer when he is not. You see, he drinks his 
beer to make himself drowsy and cracks his whip to 
keep himself awake. 


140 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD . 


" First of all,” I said, " let us see the gallery of 
pictures, — that closes in an hour, — and we ’ll 
walk about the grounds afterwards.” 

Now Marian don’t care for pictures, at least not 
such pictures as we were going to see. She has a 
copy of "Mother Goose” and of "Alice in Wonder- 
land ” that she thinks more of than all the galleries in 
the world. These books are all ablaze with pictures, 
and she knows every picture by heart and all about it. 
Marian did n’t like to see the Lichtenstein pictures, 
so she begged us to leave her outside in the garden. 

" Won’t you go off the paths ? ” said her aunt. 

" Or pick the flowers ? ” said I. 

" Or get stones in your shoes, or lose your hat, or 
get your sash untied or your face dirty ? ” said Aunt 
Elinor. 

Marian promised she would n’t do any of these 
things, but would be as good as candy if we ’d only 
let her stay and play in the garden while we went in- 
side. So we let her stay. 

We had only left her a few minutes when Marian 
saw on the other side of the garden a very pretty 
little girl, who was with a very be-yew-ti-ful young 
lady, and a maid-servant with a cap, and behind 
them all a man-servant with a yellow coat on, and 


MARIAN PLA YS WITH A PRINCESS. 141 

in front of them a little dog with a pug like a door- 
knob and no ears to speak of, and not even the 
thought of a tail. 

The little girl had a hoop, the be-yew-ti-fulest 
(that ’s Marian’s word, not mine) hoop and hoop- 
stick, and the maid-servant had a whole lot more 
toys, and the man-servant he had battledores and 
grace-hoops and a balloon. 

The little girl fascinated Marian immensely and 
Marian fascinated the little girl, so when they met 
on the walk, both stopped and looked at each other. 

" How d’ ye do ? ” said Marian, in her best French. 

" Pretty well,” said the little girl. " How do you 
do ? ” in equally good French. 

The lady smiled, and the man-servant looked 
amazed, and the maid-servant didn’t have any 
expression to speak of. 

" Are you out here to play ? ” said Marian . 

"Yes, are you?” 

"Yes.” 

" Then let ’s play together,” said the little girl. 

"Oh, no,” said Marian. "I’d like to, but I’m not 
allowed to play with strangers, but I should like to 
so much.” 

Then the lady laughed, and the man-servant 


142 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


looked more horrified, and the maid-servant never 
stirred a muscle. 

" Do you know my uncle?” said Marian, thinking 
that might be a way out of the difficulty. 

"No, but I daresay you ’ve seen my papa,” said 
the little girl. "Most everybody has.” 

" What is his name? ” said Marian. 

"His name is the Emperor,” said the little girl, 
"and mine is Marie Valerie.” 

" Oh, my ! ” said Marian, " are you the Emperor’s 
little girl? Then you Te a princess. Why, where ’s 
your crown and all your gold coaches and every- 
thing? I’m so glad to speak with a princess, for 
there are ever so many things I want to know. 
May I ask you some questions ? ” 

"Yes, if you like.” 

"Well, then, do you ever have your mother’s 
crown to play with ? ” 

My ! how horrified the man-servant looked, and 
the little princess replied, " No, but I’d like to.” 

" We saw your mother the other day, and she had 
her crown on,” continued Marian. " How does she 
keep it on ? with an elastic ? ” 

" I don’t know,” said Marie Valerie. " I ’ll ask her 
when I go home.” 


MARIAN PLA VS WITH A PRINCESS. 143 


"Please do,” said Marian, "and tell me the next 
time you see me. You don’t look very much like 
a princess, you look just like a real sweet little girl.” 

The lady smiled and the man-servant looked as if 
he had had an electric shock, and the maid-servant 
put a piece of bread into ner mouth on the sly and 
began munching it. 

"Why, I’ve got a picture of you at home,” said 
Marian, "but I should never have known it — never ! 
You were standing up to a chair and looking at 
pictures in a great book.” 

" Oh, that was taken when I was little. They 
gave me the book to keep me still. I sit still as a 
mouse now when I have my pictures taken.” 

"You had a lovely dress on, — all lace and sashes. 
And that ’s such a pretty dress you ’re wearing now. 
Why it, is almost all lace. Do you wear lace dresses 
every day?” 

" When I go out I do.” 

" How many have you ? ” asked Marian. 

" I don’t know,” answered the princess. 

" Ten ? ” asked Marian. 

" More than that.” 

" My ! ” exclaimed Marian. " Do you ever wear 
aprons ? ” 


144 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


" Oh, yes ; when I eat my dinner.” 

" A princess with an apron on ! Why, I never 
heard of such a thing ! ” And Marian opened her eyes 
with surprise. In a minute she recovered herself 
enough to ask, — 

" How do you like being a princess ? ” for our 
little lady meant to improve the opportunity to get 
all the information she could. 

"Pretty well,” said Miss Marie Yalerie ; " but you 
haven’t told me what your name is, and I’ve told 
you all about myself.” 

"Oh, my name is Marian. I am an American. 
Are those all your toys ? ” 

" Yes ; do you want to play ? ” 

" Why, yes, if you ’ll let me take that hoop for a 
little. I should like to take a run with it. We 
might take turns.” 

"Yes, we might,” said the little princess, looking 
at the lady, who nodded a consent. 

So off they went romping, just as you do, little 
reader ; and so when we came out of the palace we 
found Marian playing with a princess, and a right 
merry, good-natured little princess she was. 

But we had to call Jehu and go away at last, and 
when we did, what do you think the little girls did ? 


Marian pla vs with a princess . 145 


Why, they just put their arms about each other, and 
kissed with a smack that startled the grave man-ser- 
vant like a fire-cracker, and the princess said, — 

" I like you very much.” 

And Marian said, — 

"So do I you; and I never should have taken 
you for a princess, — never ! ” 

Soon after this adventure the weather became so 
warm that we began to think about going into the 
country, and casting about for a place to go to, hit 
upon Voslauer, an hour’s ride by rail from Vienna, 
and as picturesque a place as one would wish to live 
in. At Voslauer there is a beautiful swimming- 
bath, and both Marian and Harry learned to swim. 
I don’t see very well how they could help learning in 
such a nice place. There was a great basin all over- 
hung with trees, and supplied by a spring that came 
bubbling up from the ground and kept the basin full 
of water so clear that we could see the pebbles at 
the bottom shining like pearls. And in one place 
the water was so shallow as to be perfectly safe for 
our little folks, and so we let them go into it pretty 
nearly whenever they pleased. Marian had a blue 
and white striped bathing-suit, and Harry had a 
red one that made him look like an overgrown 
10 


146 


CHILD MARIAN AD ROAD. 


lobster as he sported in the water. There was a 
swimming master who taught them, and the way he 
did it was to hang them to a long pole by means of a 
belt under their arms, with which he held them just 
at the surface of the water, while he told them how 
to strike out with their legs and arms. 

It was a glorious summer for us all, and when we 
saw the harvest ripening and felt the autumn coming 
on, we were sorry, for we knew we must turn our 
steps homeward, and strong attachments for us all 
had grown up in Austria. 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


147 


CHAPTER XII. 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


HE last chapter of the Marian papers, — and so 



-JL much to say in it, that I would like to have 
another whole book to say it in. A dozen pages 
are a very small space to tell you all about how 
Marian got home, but I’ll do the best I can. 

The harvest was ripe in the fields when we left 
Austria and made our way towards Paris. We 
made a long journey of it, stopped here and there 
by the way whenever there was anything remark- 
able to be seen, and among other places we 
visited Salzburg, the capital of the Austrian Tyrol. 
Salzburg is like a city in a dream. Over the town 
hangs a feudal castle, and looking down on that 
are snow-crowned mountains that seem to touch 
the sky, and every evening mingle their tops with 
the red and gold of the sunsets, or wrap them- 
selves about with clouds. We stopped at a very old 


148 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


hotel, in the very old square of the town, and were 
waited upon by a very old waiter, who gave us very 
old chickens to eat and a beef-steak so venerable 
and tough that we felt as if it ought to be tanned 
and put in the town museum as a curiosity. Then 
we had a very old room, that smelt musty and damp, 
and the chambermaid was so old that we instinc- 
tively asked how her grandchildren were, and if 
she remembered Mozart, the composer, who used to 
live in Salzburg, and died in 1791. An air of an- 
tiquity seemed to settle upon us like a garment, and 
during our stay we could not shake it off. The 
children too seemed to feel it, and talked in such 
a strange old way it made us sad to hear them. 

There are ever so many sights to be seen in Salz- 
burg. There is an old cemetery, with tombs and 
chapels cut in solid rock ; there is a riding-school, 
with tier upon tier of boxes for spectators, and all 
hewn out of the face of the mountain ; and the best 
of all the sights of Salzburg is not in Salzburg, but a 
little out of it, at a place called Helbruun, — a sum- 
mer palace, where the gardens are full of marvels 
that amused us for a whole day. All we knew about 
Helbrunn before we went there was that it was 
famous for its fountains. As we drove up to the 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


149 


front of the palace, it looked like rather an insignifi- 
cant affair compared with those we had already seen, 
but stretching out behind it was a park of rare 
beauty, with long rows of trees and lawns and 
statuary, and two or three not very imposing foun- 
tains. 

" I hope they don’t call those wonderful foun- 
tains,” said Marian. "We’ve seen ever so many 
better ones than those.” 

"Yes,” I said, "there was the fountain of Trevi.” 

" Uncle Will, you promised not to mention it 1 ” 

" So I did, but I forgot.” 

"Come,” said the guide, who by this time had 
made up a party of a dozen persons, among the most 
conspicuous of whom was a group of Tyrolean peas- 
ants in their pretty costumes, and all under the 
charge of a fat old burgomaster and his fatter wife, 
who was red of face, capacious of skirts, and car- 
ried a green cotton umbrella of huge dimensions. 

He took us first by a flower-bordered walk so 
narrow that we were all obliged to go single file ; 
and just when we were in the prettiest part of it, 
there sprang up from each side, right out of the box- 
tree edging, a shower of fine spray. Everybody 
laughed, and hurried along to a little summer-house 


150 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


for shelter, and the party was no sooner inside than 
from all the cornices and ornaments of the roof there 
sprang a hundred jets of water like fine rain. 

The burgomaster’s wife put up her umbrella and 
looked triumphant, while we all fled out into the 
sunshine again, leaving her alone in her glory. Her 
triumph was very brief, for we had no sooner left the 
summer-house than from a thousand little holes, un- 
noticed in the floor, there sprang as many spiteful 
jets of water, and as she could n’t stand in her um- 
brella and keep it over her head also, she had to 
come grumbling to us, and was hailed with shouts of 
laughter. She said she would n’t go any farther, she 
guessed, she ’d seen enough, and she had rather sit 
down under a tree and wait till we came along back. 
This she proceeded to do, but the tree began to 
throw out water from every branch, and she was 
glad to join us again. Then we were taken to see a 
cavern, and the guide promised us he would look 
out that we did n’t get wet any more, if we would 
only obey his directions. 

One thing he told us was that we must n’t stop to 
look at anything unless he bade us do so. I was 
the first one to disregard this, and as we were about 
to enter the cavern, stopped and called Aunt Eli- 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


151 


nor’s attention to some deer’s heads with antlers 
above the door. 

" Are n’t they fine ? ” I said ; and the words were 
no sooner out of my mouth than the points of every 
antler sent down streams of water, that wet my 
head and face completely. 

Then we all went into the cavern, and were made 
prisoners there by a sheet of water that at once 
commenced falling from the door. 

We were led through underground passages, 
where the water was always suddenly leaping out 
upon us, and at the end was a gloomy cavern, 
where there were fountains of fantastic forms, and 
crawling in and out were alligators, and reptiles of 
other sorts, and huge, indescribable monsters, that 
groaned and hooted and screamed in the most 
terrific way. There were grotesque faces that ran 
out huge tongues, and there were great, hideous bats 
that flapped their wings and winked their eyes and 
held serpents in their claws. 

Marian was quite afraid, and we were sorry we 
had brought her there. It was very curious though, 
and everything was done by water-power, even to 
the singing of hundreds of birds that hailed us as 
we turned to leave. 


152 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


Once more outside, we were taken to a great 
theatre, where there were scores and scores of little 
people only a few inches in height, and all moving 
about like real people. There were people of all 
trades, — blacksmiths at their anvils and forges, shoe- 
makers pegging away "like mad,” sailors sewing as 
if their lives depended upon it ; there were preachers 
preaching, and miners mining, and hay-makers hay- 
making, and carpenters carpentering, and everybody 
that does anything doing it as hard as ever they 
could, and all moved by the power of a little brook, 
that flowed out from underneath with a self-satisfied 
bubbling, as much as to say, " Don’t you think I ’ve 
done it all pretty well? ” At last, when we were all 
very nearly tired out, we came to a terrace, 
enclosed in the form of a horseshoe, and set about 
with statuary. In the middle, was a table, and 
around it were stools. " This looks like a safe 
place?” said the burgomaster’s wife, in a question- 
ing tone to her husband. 

" Yah,” he said, wiping the perspiration from his 
forehead and sitting down by the table. 

"Here we ’ll have our luncheon, as we don’t care 
to go any farther, Mr. Guido — ” 

All his party looked pleased at this, and began to 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


153 


produce from their pockets good-sized parcels of 
eatables, and had sent one of their number for the 
beer, when presto ! the table, the stools, the very 
ground opened a hundred mouths, and Mr. Burgo- 
master and his party were in the heart of a fountain. 

Wherever one looked, water was pouring out. 

The urns above their heads were overflowing, the 
statues were spirting out streams from their parted 
lips, the cornices were water Axils, and the trees be- 
came clouds that rained copiously. But the guide 
was not very hard on them, he only let the water 
run for a few seconds ; and as the burgomaster and 
his party took it all good-naturedly, no harm was 
done. The sun soon dried their wet clothes, and 
we left them enjoying their bread and sausage and 
fortifying themselves with beer. 

Back to Salzburg and away from Salzburg. 

On to Munich and away from Munich, with only a 
glance at the sights of the famous city. On, on, on, 
as fast as steam would carry us, to beautiful Paris. 

In Paris we rested until the winter was upon us, 
and left it just as the December days were dying, en 
route for home. 

On the evening before we left, Marian and Harry 
went to a party. And who do you think gave it ? 


154 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


And where do you think it was? Guess! Oh, but 
you ’d never guess right. It was a Christmas party 
given by the children of Marshal McMahon and 
Madame la Marechale. Such a time ! 

A children’s party in the Elys^e Palace ! 

And it was n’t only a party, it was a fancy party, 
and Marian went as " little Bo Peep,” and Harry as 
a North American Indian, who showed a decided 
tendency to scalp everybody with whom he came in 
contact. 

And did n’t Marian look very sweet when she was 
dressed to go, with her jaunty little hat all covered 
with daisies and buttercups, and her little blue dress 
with a white overskirt, and the tiniest little crook 
tied up with blue and pink ribbons ? 

And do you wonder that I caught her up and 
kissed her again and again, and said, " There never 
was such a dear little shepherdess ” ? 

And when we were all ready I took them in a 
carriage and we drove up under the lighted portal of 
the Elys^e, and were helped out by very gorgeous 
servants in livery, and were introduced to a rather 
plain but very sensible and motherly looking woman, 
who was Mrs. McMahon, or Madame la Marechale, 
or the Duchess of Magenta, whichever title you like 



MM 






HOMEWARD BOUND. 


155 


best, and then we were introduced to a grave-look- 
ing man, whose face was weather-stained and whose 
close-cut hair and moustache were very grizzled, 
and he was a marshal of France, and the President 
of the French Republic. And afterward there were 
some young McMahons, how many or what their 
names were I can’t remember, but they were very 
sweet and lovable children. 

After a little while, a band struck up and there 
was dancing. Away went little troubadours with 
guitars slung over their shoulders and holding little 
peasants by the hands, away went little sailors and 
soldiers and harlequins and shepherdesses, and Tyro- 
leans and Hungarians and Indians, round and round 
they went among the great pots of flowering plants, 
under the thousand wax candles, and over the polished 
inlaid floor. 

And after the dancing there was supper, with such 
fanciful things in confectionery that the very tables 
looked like dreamland. Then there was a Punch 
and Judy show, and Punch was never funnier nor 
Judy more perverse. After that there was an exhi- 
bition of trained birds, when a little chirping, yellow 
canary fired a cannon at another canary, who fell 
dead and was wheeled away in a wheelbarrow by 


156 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


number one. The canaries were no sooner through 
than a band of trained dogs and monkeys were intro- 
duced, and went through with such marvellous feats 
that the children clapped their hands with delight ; 
and to wind up with, there was an exhibition of par- 
lor fire-works that put all the candles to shame with 
their brilliancy. The party began at six and was 
over before eleven, but when it was over I could n’t 
find Marian. Where could she be ? I looked into 
all the rooms, even to the cloak-rooms, but she was 
nowhere to be found. Then I thought of the con- 
servatory, and thought she might be there. When I 
reached the door I found a group of ladies and gen- 
tlemen standing just inside and talking in very low 
tones. 

w Is n’t it a pretty sight?” said one. 

" Lovely ! ” answered another. 

" It is too bad to wake her,” said another ; and I 
looked to see what they were talking about. There 
was a beautiful statue there of an angel bending 
over a group of sleeping children, one of whom held 
a dove to its bosom. The group was in marble ; 
but far prettier than the marble forms, far sweeter 
than the angel’s face, was our dear little Marian, 
her fair curls nestled close to the angel’s feet, and her 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 


157 


hands clasped upon the dove, and her shepherd crook 
lying at her feet unheeded, for she was far away in 
the land of dreams. I awakened her with a kiss and 
bore her away in my arms, and wished that in all her 
sleep she might lie at the feet of the angels and fold 
her precious hands upon the dove of peace. 

And now we have come to the end of Marian’s 
wanderings ; there was only the sweet home-coming, 
which I need not tell you about. Dear, sweet little 
Marian ! Dear, jolly, mischievous little Harry ! We 
must say Au revoir , and we ’ll keep all the sunny 
memories in our hearts forever, and forget all that 
was amiss in the journey that we made together. 

So then, I take my pen to write the last record of 
Marian’s travels. I confess that my heart is some- 
what heavy at parting with the little friends that 
we ’ve made by the wayside, — you, my little reader, 
and each and every one who has loved Marian. I 
know we have some friends, and I imagine, as I write, 
that there are bright-eyed children all about, boys 
and girls, blondes and brunettes, rich and poor, 
worn little faces and healthy smile-wreathed faces 
too. Many a little hand I know is put forth to take 
Marian’s in farewell, and to each and every dear child 
I must say farewell for our darling. How can I 


158 


CHILD MARIAN ABROAD. 


better do it than to repeat a prayer that Marian 
used to say, — perhaps says now, — and add my own 
loving, hearty amen? More than once as I have 
bent over Marian’s fair head, as she knelt by her 
bedside, I have heard her say, — 

" Dear Father in heaven, bless all the little children 
in the world and keep them in Thy loving arms from 
all harm and fear of harm, for our dear Saviour’s 
sake ! ” 


SOPHIE MAY’S “ LITTLE-FOLKS ” BOOKS 


LITTLE PRUDY 

** I have been wanting to say a word about a book for chil- 
dren, perfect of its kind, — I mean ‘ Little Prudy.’ It seems to 
me the greatest book of the season for children. The authoress 
has a genius for story-telling. Prudy’s letter to Mr. ’Gustus 
Somebody must be genuine ; if an invention, it shows a genius 
akin to that of the great masters. It is a positive kindness to 
the little ones to remind their parents that there is such a book 
as ‘ Little Prudy.’ ” — Springfield Republican* 


LITTLE PRUDY'S SISTER SUSIE 

“ Every little girl and boy who has made the acquaintance 
•f that funny ‘ Little Prudy ’ will be eager to read this book, in 
which she figures quite as largely as her bigger sister, though 
the joys and troubles of poor Susie make a very interesting 
story.” — Portland Transcript. 

“ Certainly one of the most cunning, natural, and witty little 
books we ever read.” — Hartford Press. 


LITTLE PRUDY'S CAPTAIN HORACE 

“ These are such as none but Sophie May can write, and we 
know not where to look for two more choice and beautiful 
volumes — * Susie ’ for girls and ‘ Horace ’ for boys. They are 
not only amusing and wonderfully entertaining, but teach 
most effective lessons of patience, kindness, and truthfulness. 
Our readers will find a good deal in them about Prudy, for so 
many things are always happening to her that the author finds 
jfc impossible to keep her out.” 


SOPHIE MAY’S “LITTLE-FOLKS” BOOKS 


LITTLE PRUDY'S STORY BOOK 

“ This story book is a great favorite with the little folks, for 
ft contains just such stories as they like to hear their aunt and 
older sister tell ; and learn them by heart and tell them over to 
one another as they set out the best infant tea-set, or piece a 
baby quilt, or dress dolls, or roll marbles. A book to put on 
the book-shelf in the play-room where ‘ Susie * and * Prudy,’ 
* Captain Horace,’ ‘ Cousin Grace,’ and all the rest of the 
‘ Little Prudy ’ folks are kept.” — Vermont Record . 


LITTLE PRUDY'S COUSIN GRACE 

“ An exquisite picture of little-girl life at school and at home, 
and gives an entertaining account of a secret society which 
originated in the fertile brain of Grace, passed some comical 
resolutions at first, but was finally converted into a Soldiers’ 
Aid Society. Full of life, and fire, and good advice ; the latter 
sugar-coated, of course, to suit the taste of little folks.” — 
Press. 


LITTLE PRUDY'S DOTTY DIMPLE 

“Dotty Dimple is the plague of Prudy’s life, and yet she 
loves her dearly. Both are rare articles in juvenile literature, 
as real as Eva and Topsy of * Uncle Tom ’ fame. Witty and 
wise, full of sport and study, sometimes mixing the two in a 
confusing way, they run bubbling through many volumes, and 
make everybody wish they could never grow up or change, 
they are so bright and cute.” 


SOPHIE MAY’S " LITTLE-FOLKS ” BOOKS 


DOTTY DIMPLE AT HER GRANDMOTHER'S 

“Sophie May’s excellent pen has perhaps never written 
anything more pleasing to children, especially little girls, than 
* Dotty Dimple.’ If the little reader follows Dotty through 
these dozen chapters — from her visit to her grandmother to 
the swing under the trees — he or she will say : ‘ It has been a 
treat to read about Dotty Dimple, she’s so cunning.’ ” — Herald 
of Gospel Liberty . 


DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST 

“ Dotty’s trip was jolly. In the cars, where she saw so many 
people that she thought there’d be nobody left in any of the 
houses, she offers to hold somebody’s baby, and when it begins 
to cry she stuffs pop-corn into its mouth, nearly choking it to 
death. Afterwards, in pulling a man’s hair, she is horrified at 
seeing his wig come off, and gasps out, ‘ Oh, dear, dear, dear, 1 
didn’t know your hair was so tender ! ’ Altogether, she is the 
cunningest chick that ever lived.” — Oxford Press. 


DOTTY DIMPLE AT HOME 

“ This little book is as full of spice as any of its predecessors, 
and well sustains the author’s reputation as the very cleverest 
of all writers of this species of children’s books. Were there 
any doubt on this point, the matter might be easily tested by 
inquiry in half the households in the city, where the book is 
being revelled over.” — Boston Homs Journal. 


SOPHIE MAY’S “ LITTLE-FOLKS ” BOOKS 


DOTTY DIMPLE AT SCHOOL 

“ Miss Dotty is a peremptory little body, -with a great deal of 
human nature in her, who wins our hearts by her comic 
speeches and funny ways. She complains of being bewitched 
by people, and the wind ‘ blows her out,’ and she thinks if her 
comrade dies in the snow-storm she will be ‘ dreadfully ’shamed 
of it,’ and has rather a lively time with all her trials in going to 
school.” — New York Citizen . 


DOTTY DIMPLE AT PLAY 

“ * Charming Dotty Dimple,’ as she is so universally styled, 
has become decidedly a favorite with young and old, who are 
alike pleased with her funny sayings and doings. ‘ Dotty at 
Play ’ will be found very attractive, and the children, especially 
the girls, will be delighted with her adventures.” — Boston 
Express. 


DOTTY DIMPLE'S FLYAWAY 

“This is the final volume of the ‘Dotty Dimple Series/ 
It relates how little Flyaway provisioned herself with cookies 
and spectacles and got lost on a little hill while seeking to 
mount to heaven, and what a precious alarm there was until 
she was found, and the subsequent joy at her recovery, with 
lots of quaint speeches and funny incidents.” — North Ameri* 
can. 

“ A Little Red Riding-Hoodish story, sprightly and takingly 
told.” — American Farmer. 


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